


This Summer's Gonna Hurt

by corruptedkid, veiku



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Les8ifins 2.0, Multi, POV John Egbert, POV Kanaya Maryam, POV Third Person Omniscient, co-written with veiku, in which dancestors are counselors ancestors are staff and betas are campers., johndave - Freeform, rated T for swearing and minor description of injury, rosemary, this also ties in a lot to the dancestor's stories, this is everything I wanted summerteen romance to be, this is gonna be a wild ride, what could go wrong?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4063930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corruptedkid/pseuds/corruptedkid, https://archiveofourown.org/users/veiku/pseuds/veiku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of her rejection from Vriska Serket, Kanaya Maryam is convinced seeing her at Camp Skaia will ruin her camp experience. That is, until Rose Lalonde comes along. Kanaya falls for her fast, but it's hard to focus on romance when you have to deal with high tension between the girls and boys sides of the lake, prank wars, and a side of camp Kanaya has never seen before. </p>
<p>On the flip side, John Egbert is a first-time camper. He doesn't really notice all the hostility in what should be a friendly environment. All he notices is his cabinmate, Dave. But messing up on his first prank means he might have to get serious for Dave to notice him back. </p>
<p>Welcome to Camp Skaia, where it's all fun and games 'till someone gets hurt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was funny how quickly someone could go from being the best thing that had ever happened to you to the worst. Kanaya wasn’t sure which was more embarrassing: the fact that she's fallen for Vriska Serket, or that she'd thought she actually had a chance. 

Or maybe the worst thing was her own cowardice. Ever since it had happened she hadn’t spoken a word to her former friend. Of course, Vriska had no way of knowing why she was angry, and was reasonably upset at Kanaya’s silence. She knew she should apologize for her behavior, but she just couldn’t. 

Kanaya supposed she was lucky she had never gotten the chance to confess her feelings. In a way, that would have been even more embarrassing. And she had been so close…

It might’ve happened. It could’ve, if she hadn’t lingered, waiting by the red brick wall. Out of Vriska’s sight, Kanaya had worked up her courage. It was hard not to wonder what might have happened if she hadn’t dawdled.

But there was no way to change the past, and now, whenever Kanaya thought back on it, she recalled finding her courage and stepping out onto the blacktop. Just in time to see Vriska pull Tavros in, their lips meeting. 

And then she would remember slipping away, unnoticed. 

Word traveled quickly through school, and it wasn’t long before Kanaya learned that Vriska had been rejected. But it didn’t really matter. It was clear she wasn’t interested in Kanaya. 

She did feel guilty for blaming her crush. Vriska couldn’t help not liking her. (After all, who would?). But before she could manage an apology, the school year had drawn to a close, and they still hadn’t spoken. 

Vriska must have realized by now why Kanaya had been upset. Fortunately, they wouldn’t see each other again until summer camp.

Summer camp. 

Kanaya’s stomach twisted at the thought of it. She dearly hoped she and Vriska wouldn’t end up sharing a cabin. That would just be too awkward, and she didn’t want her last year at Camp Skaia ruined by any unresolved tension. 

Fortunately, no matter the cabin assignments, Vriska would probably ignore her anyway. During those hot summer days she just blabbed with Terezi, ignoring everyone else and talking about them behind their backs. 

Now Kanaya thought of it, Vriska’s constant ridicule of the other kids was sort of annoying. When they had been friends, Kanaya constantly had to put up with Vriska putting everyone else down. Perhaps this would make for a clean breaking-off of their friendship, and Kanaya wouldn’t have to look past Vriska’s flaws anymore. 

Yes, this could be a good thing. 

But it all depended on what happened that summer. And no matter how things turned out, no matter her beginnings of moving on, Kanaya was sure of one thing. She was sure that, as in the wise words of Adam Levine, this summer was going to hurt like a motherfucker. 

*** 

When camp time finally came around, Kanaya was less worried, but still had a few misgivings. They were what led her to bite her lip as the car crunched over the gravel road instead of leaping out to breathe in the pine-scented air. Here she was, in her home away from home, and she couldn’t be less excited. She was too busy thinking of Vriska. Damn her gay teenage woes. 

The sight of a familiar black coat jogged her out of her anxiety, and she rolled down her window. 

“Hi, Mr. Sufferer,” she called. He turned around, and hurried over to her car. 

“Hello, Kanaya,” he said tiredly. “It’s very nice to see you. I wish I could talk more, but I’m afraid I must go and greet the new arrivals.” The thought of this seemed to terrify him, and he shook himself before walking away again.

Kanay frowned as she unbuckled her seat belt and hopped out of the car. Typically, the phrase “I wish I could talk more” just about summarized Mr. Sufferer’s life, but today he seemed exhausted, and much less enthusiastic about “molding young minds, shaping the futures of us all.” (Direct quote). 

Every year the man had to shepherd in the new campers, assure them there were no bears or wolves, go over rules, and make long speeches about camp spirit. Terribly, agonizingly long speeches. But all the campers loved him anyway. Something must have happened that would upset him… Perhaps the camp director had given him a talking-to?

Speaking of madame director, there she was. Ms. Candace had a house of her own near the main lodge, where she could often be seen sitting on the porch, smoking and sneering at campers. That was where she sat now. Kanaya made sure to give her a wide berth as she passed by. She wondered why the woman lived in a summer camp if she hated children as much as she seemed to. 

Kanaya caught sight of Karkat standing in the check-in line, and bid her mother a temporary farewell. 

She walked slowly by the gaggle of parents and children, seeking out any other familiar faces. She recognized Aradia and Terezi, the latter standing alone. Vriska must not have yet arrived.

“That’s right, don’t say hello,” Karkat’s voice said sarcastically as she walked by. She smiled and kept walking.

“Don’t say anything. Just walk on by. I really hate you, actually, don’t even bother coming to talk to me. I’m not bored out of my mind or in need of someone to talk to.”

“KANAYA GOD DAMNIT DON’T IGNORE ME I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR—

Kanaya turned to shush Karkat loudly. 

“You really should’t swear so loudly,” she said through her laughter as she walked back over to him. “There are children present.” And indeed, a few parents were giving Karkat disapproving looks.

“See if I give a fuck,” he mumbled, his words defiant but his volume considerably lowered. 

“You don’t want a speech from Mr. Sufferer before you even get checked in, do you?” Kanaya said seriously. 

Karkat cleared his throat and adopted a mockingly deep voice. “As an older camper, you have the responsibility of setting a good example for the younger ones,” he began. “To be a role model. The impressionable minds of today’s youth must be shaped in the spirit of liberty, so they can develop into fine citizens we can be proud to blah blah blah.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Any punishment is better than ending up in Kankri’s cabin again. He’s worse than Sufferer. If that happens, I swear, I will actually and literally drown myself.” 

“Not a good idea. Ms. Fang would never let you drown, and then you’d just have to deal with Kankri fussing over your ‘triggers’.” Kanaya patted Karkat on the shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you won’t get him two years in a row. I’ve been coming since I was six and I’ve never had the same counselor consecutively. And even if you do, he can’t be that bad, right?” She stepped into the line beside Karkat.

The boy huffed. “You’ve never really experienced him. One time we were going to nature and I—

“Next!”

He sighed as he was cut off. “My turn. See you around, then, I guess.”

“See you later.”

Kanaya stood idly as Karkat bounded up the steps into the lodge. The routine was pretty simple: once inside she would see the nurse, verify for the hundredth time that no, she had no medications or allergies, say hello to the staff, find out her counselor and then be on her merry way. This merry way would hopefully not involve a cabin with Vriska Serket.

Kanaya waved to her mother, who was browsing the camp store (god praise that holy distributor of camp merchandise, amen), motioning for her to come over and stand with her daughter. She walked over just as they were called in. 

Kanaya nearly bumped into Karkat as she stepped inside.

“Kankri?” she said tentatively.

He made a face. “Mituna.”

She nodded her head sympathetically before making her way to the nurse’s table. 

“Hi, Ms. Rosa,” she said eagerly. 

The woman smiled. “Hello, Kanaya. It’s been too long.” She stood and leaned over the table to give Kanaya a warm hug.

In the seven years Kanaya had been coming to Camp Skaia, she and Ms. Rosa had formed a close bond. She was someone Kanaya could look up to and confide in. If there was any trouble this week, Ms. Rosa would be there. This thought comforted Kanaya.

“So, who’s my counselor this year?” she said nervously. (Please be someone cool, please be someone cool). 

The nurse glanced down at her clipboard. “Looks like… Latula!”

In her head, Kanaya did a silent victory dance.

“Can you tell me who else is in my cabin?”

Ms. Rosa only winked. “That’s a surprise.”

Oh, well. She’d find out soon enough. 

“You know where to go, I trust?” Ms. Rosa asked her. 

“Oh, yes.” Boy, did she. 

Latula Pyrope was one of the three counselors with cabins in the site known as Fruity Rumpus Partytown. It was the place every girl wanted to be. Every year Kanaya would hope to be chosen as one of the lucky few to make it there, only to be disappointed. The other counselors were wonderful, of course, but the hijinks of Fruity Rumpus were simply legendary.

“Thank you, Ms. Rosa!” Kanaya said politely, tugging on her mother’s arm. On her way out, she also gave a quick greeting to Ms. Dee and Mr. Summoner, but didn’t spend too much time. She was itching to get to her cabin site.

When they finally arrived, the place was bustling. Campers ran back and forth between the colorfully painted cabins, and loud chatter could be heard emanating from each one. Kanaya stood for a moment just to take it all in.

“Are you looking for your cabin?” a warm voice asked.

Kanaya turned to see Porrim smiling down at her. 

“Uh, yes,” Kanaya said, suddenly shy. “Which one is Latula’s?”

“She’s over there.” Porrim pointed to the blue cabin on Kanaya’s left. “Have fun!”

“Thank you!”

Kanaya grabbed her luggage and stepped up to the door of her home for the week. It was painted a vibrant red, providing a nice contrast against the teal of the rest of the cabin. While it was a bit bright, Kanaya approved of the color scheme. She knocked on the door. 

It crashed open the instant her knuckles touched the red wood, and Kanaya just barely got a glimpse of brown skin and flowing black hair before she was slammed into by the other girl. 

“Hello, Feferi,” she squeaked. 

“Kanayaaaa!! Oh my gosh, we’re in the same cabin! It’s so good to see youu!!” Feferi squealed, squeezing Kanaya tightly in her arms. 

Kanaya lightly patted her on the back. “It’s nice to see you as well. I think there’s a chance you may be crushing my ribs.” 

Feferi released her and took hold of her hand instead. She began telling Kanaya everything that had happened that evening, tugging on her arm all the while. Seeing she wouldn’t be likely to get away soon, Kanaya waved a quick goodbye to her mother and let herself be pulled inside. 

“Nepeta’s sharing a bunk with me, so you get to be with Jade!” Feferi beamed.

Kanaya smiled back, relieved to see Jade had taken the top bunk. She actually preferred the bottom one. If she hung her towels from the rail above, she could create a perfect little canopy/changing room. 

“You haven’t ever been in Fruity Rumpus before, have you?” Feferi said excitedly. Kanaya shook her head.

“Cool! Latula went to the lodge to get stuff for s’mores, I think. You’ll meet her soon.”

“So there’s no one else in our cabin?”

“Nope! They haven’t got many teen campers this year, so it’s only four to a cabin. There’s a ton of little kids, though.” 

Kanaya sighed in relief. It was likely Vriska would be in her cabin site, but at least they wouldn’t be forced into a cabin together.

The sound of loud whooping came from outside.

“ALL RIGHT, MY LIL’ HOMIES,” a voice shouted. “WE’RE MAKIN’ SOME S’MORES UP IN THIS BITCH!”

The words were followed by loud cheering. 

Kanaya dropped her bags and dashed out the door. She had seen enough of the Fruity Rumpus counselors in previous years to recognize the voice of Meenah Peixes, cool kid extraordianaire.

If Fruity Rumpus was a legend, Meenah was its god. Forever would Kanaya hold dear the memories of the year she had hijacked the pirate ship, bringing the gleeful campers around the lake for a spin. 

(The pirate ship wasn’t a real ship, obviously, rather two canoes strapped together with a board, but it had a plank, mast, sails, and flag, and stepping onto its “deck” meant bragging rights for the rest of the week).

As all the girls gathered around the fire pit to see what was going on, Kanaya couldn’t be happier. She was already making awesome memories. She had been completely wrong about the direction her summer was headed in. This was going to be awesome!

She got her first glimpse of Latula as the counselor passsed a package of chocolate over the heads of the campers to Meenah, who began tearing into the plastic wrappings.

The s’more party quickly turned into an operation. Squads of campers delegated jobs to one another. Porrim’s cabin raced to the wood pile to start up a fire. Meenah’s campers combed the surrounding woods for suitable roasting sticks. Latula’s girls were given the important task of setting up the ingredients. It was quite efficient. 

Kanaya seized an opportunity to introduce herself when she ended up with Latula by her side, ripping into a bag of marshmallows.

“Hi, I’m Kanaya. I’m in your cabin.”

Latula looked up from the marshmallows. “Oh, hey girl! Sorry I didn’t get to say hey earlier, I was gettin’ my marshamllow on, ya feel? Anyway, welcome to the party!”

She passed a marshmallow to Kanaya.

“We’re not supposed to eat them yet,” Latula whispered. “But you seem chill. Keep my secret?” 

Kanaya nodded, popping the marshamllow into her mouth. 

“Yeah, we get a lot of the same faces in this site year after year,” Latula continued. “It’s cool cause you get to know people, but gettin’ some newbies is hells of awesome!”

Kanaya smiled. “I’m glad to be here.”

Gravel crunched on the pathway up to the cabins, and Latula paused. “Shit. Car coming. Check to see if it’s Candy, will ya? If it is we gotta hide the s’mores, I sorta stole ‘em.” She started setting some of the food on the ground under the table while Kanaya ran to go check. 

When she peered down the hill she saw a white, modern-looking car fast approaching. Nothing like the hot pink convertible usually parked near Ms. Candace’s house. 

“All clear,” Kanaya called. “Just a camper.”

Latula’s head popped out from under the table. She slid a pack of chocolate back onto it. “Okay, cool.”

Kanaya turned back to the car, which was now parked at the site’s entrance. The passenger side door swung open, and out stepped a girl.

This girl was unlike anything Kanaya had ever seen before. She seemed to be a first-time camper. (Kanaya definitely would have remembered that face). Even from a distance Kanaya could see she had a kind of radiance to her, and held herself in a way that suggested beauty and grace.

Grace wasn’t all she had, either. From a designer’s point of view, Kanaya had to admire the way her white skirt and shirt complemented her blonde hair. And her black headband, while simple, was a nice touch to round out the look. As she walked closer, Kanaya could see more of her expertly applied black eyeliner and lipstick. Usually she saw black lipstick to be a touch gaudy, but this girl wore it with elegance. 

This was all merely from a designer’s view, of course. Kanaya just had a certain appreciation for when someone could dress themselves nicely, that was all. Especially when the outfit made their figure look so very enticing. And they walked towards her with such attractive confidence. And their face was like that of an angel, smirking at her with eyebrows raised, and… Dear god, Kanaya was staring. And the girl had most definitely noticed. 

Kanaya felt the hot prickle of a blush creep up onto her cheeks when she found herself face to face with the new girl. 

“See anything you like?” the girl inquired.

Before Kanaya could stammer out a “no”, or a “yes, definitely,” or a greeting, or maybe something witty like “wow your face is nice,” the girl walked on past her. 

“That blush is quite becoming on you,” she murmured, their arms brushing as she passed Kanaya. 

Kanaya’s mind was completely void of intelligent thought.

***  
Later, as the three cabins sat around the campfire, there were many treats to be eaten. Kanaya had a lot to focus on, trying not to look at Vriska or the new girl while at the same time trying not to make a mess of her s’more. 

She had discovered the girl’s name to be Rose Lalonde. Beautiful, but nowhere near ostentatious, the name suited her perfectly. She was in Meenah’s cabin, along with Vriska, Terezi and Aradia.

Vriska made no attempt to speak to Kanaya, but there was no hostility in the gesture. She just chattered with Terezi and seemed to be wholly enjoying herself. Kanaya decided to let her be. 

It was just in time for Kanaya to have gotten over Vriska, as well, because she could feel herself falling fast and hard for Rose. She was gorgeous, and after a few hours of staring when Rose wasn’t looking and blushing when she got close, Kanaya had to give herself a mental reprimanding. She had to keep a little self-respect. 

“Okay, girls, listen up,” Porrim announced. “We’ll have to be getting to bed soon, tomorrow’s a big day. But before that we have to go over some rules.”

There was some halfhearted grumbling before everyone quieted down to listen.

“I’m sure you all know each other pretty well by now, so we’ll skip the get-to-know-you bit,” Porrim continued. “Here are the basic rules: don’t—

“Swear when staff can hear you, piss off Candy or Highblood, make fun of Dualscar to his face, let Sciple into your love life, talk to boys, or get caught pranking,” Meenah interrupted. “Anything I’m missing?”

“Have fun!” Latula added.

Meenah rolled her eyes. “You sap. Also, don’t drown, buddy system, etcetera etcetera. Questions?”

You weren’t actually supposed to swear in camp. Meenah just had a bit of a disregard for rules. In past years Kanaya had spent her days having wholeheartedly safe fun, while the Fruity Rumpus girls swaggered around camp, enjoying their freedom to be bold in a way Kanaya had never known. And she’d certainly never heard of the pranks Meenah mentioned…

Kanaya raised a hand. “What do you mean, ‘don’t get caught pranking’?”

Meenah considered her a moment. “You were in the other cabin site before here, right? Paradox Space?” she said finally.

Kanaya nodded.

“Yeah, they don’t do pranks over there ‘cuz they’re a buncha sore wusses. Here’s what you’ve been missin’…”

Everyone was silent, eagerly waiting for Meenah to tell her tale.

“Okay, strictly going by the rules, we aren’t allowed to do this. But we do anyway. Every year, the girls are pitted against the boys in an epic battle. Well, us girls, I mean. We lost last year,” Meenah said, shooting a pointed look to Latula, who shifted uncomfortably. “So we need to get out title back.”

She motioned to her campers. “Who’s not gonna go easy on the boys ‘cuz Latula’s mushy?” she yelled.

“WE WON’T!” the most of the campers cheered. Kanaya noticed Feferi and Jade sitting in silence. Latula just sighed.

“So, we have to make plans for this to be the best year ever,” Meenah smirked.

“We should put a beehive in their cabin!” someone suggested.

Porrim shook her head. “No, we aren’t going to cause any actual bodily harm.”

“But I want to break them,” Aradia whispered, a wide-eyed grin spreading across her face. “I want to hear their screams.”

Everyone looked at Aradia. Vriska edged away from her slightly.

She just kept smiling.

“Moving on!” Meenah said loudly. “Let’s come up with plans some other time. Gotta sleep now. Everybody brush your teeth and get in bed, ‘kay?”

Everyone groaned. One by one, kids began standing and shuffling off to their cabins, concealing yawns. Kanaya retrieved her toothbrush and flashlight from her trunk and hurried to the water spigot.

Unfortunately, someone had beat her to it. A flashlight beam already glowed steadily at the fountain, and the sound of rushing water could be heard. Kanaya pointed her own light towards the sound. 

“Studies have shown blinding a girl to be not the most effective way of winning her over,” Rose said, squinting in the sudden brightness. Kanaya tried not to notice how adorable she sounded with a mouthful of toothpaste. Or that her pajama shorts were noticeably shorter than her skirt had been.

She quickly directed her flashlight down, praying for the darkness to conceal her blush.

Rose spat out her toothpaste.

“I can feel you blushing from here,” she said slyly. 

“I-I’m not blushing,” Kanaya managed. It was a complete and total lie, but she silently commended herself for stringing together a coherent sentence.

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m not!”

“Well, you certainly were earlier. Here, you can use the spigot. It’ll give you something to do besides stare.”

Kanaya stepped over to the handle and switched the water on. “I wasn’t staring,” she mumbled.

“Sure you weren’t,” Rose whispered. Her clear amusement was infuriating. God damnit, it had been less than a day and Kanaya was crazy for her. Rose must have known it, too. She must have known how it made Kanaya’s heart beat fast when she trailed her fingers along the girl’s shoulder as she passed. 

If she didn’t, she must have realized when Kanaya dropped her toothbrush in embarrassment. 

Kanaya glanced at Rose as she walked back to the cabins. As she drew nearer to their lights, her outline became more distinguishable. Kanaya wasn’t sure if the sway in her hips when she walked was intentional or not, but either way, it was incredibly distracting. 

Kanaya quickly brushed her teeth and returned to her own cabin. The others burst out the door as she went back inside, leaving the cabin empty for her to change in. 

The interior of the cabin was less flashy than the outside, and had a more homely feel. It was similar in structure to the cabins of Paradox Space, but with some differences. Latula’s bed, with its blue and red covers, sat in the corner. A skateboard and helmet leaned against the wall next to it. The other bunk beds all had varing degrees of neatness and decoration. 

Kanaya dropped her toothbrush into her trunk, and set her flashlight on the center table where she could easily find it. She made a mental note to write her name on it as she changed into her pajamas. 

The other girls reentered the cabin as Kanaya tucked herself into her sleeping bag. Latula followed them inside.

“Okay, guys. I don’t wanna see any flashlights under the covers. I’ll be outside by the fire for a while if you need me. If you need the bathroom take a buddy. Anybody want a hug goodnight?” She smiled, her glasses glinting in the cabin’s dim light. 

All the girls raised their hands, Kanaya a bit sheepishly. 

“Aww, you guys are sweet. Last year nobody wanted hugs. They were all too cool for that kind of stuff,” Latula pouted, giving Feferi a hug. She went around the room telling everyone goodnight. After she went back outside, everyone was quiet. 

After a few minutes of listening to the counselors murmured conversation outside, Kanaya heard Jade speak.

“Latula’s so nice,” she whispered.

“I know, right? I feel kinda bad that we’re gonna have to prank Mituna, even if Meenah thinks that’s wussy,” Feferi whispered back.

Kanaya sat up, propping her elbows up on her pillow. “Wait, why is pranking Mituna bad?”

“Oh, right. I forgot you’re out of the loop. Latula and Mituna have been dating for like, five years,” Feferi said in a hush. “They’re super in love. But Mituna’s pretty sensitive.”

“Yeah?”

“So, he just gets upset if we go too hard. Like it’s Latula being mad at him or something.”

“I don’t know why,” Nepeta piped up. “It’s been years, fur crying out loud! He’s crazy if he thinks its purrsonal.”

“Don’t call Mituna crazy, Nep.”

There were a few more minutes of silence.

“They almost broke up a couple years ago, didn’t they?” Jade said timidly.

“I don’t like thinking about that year.” Feferi’s blankets rustled. 

“What happened?” Kanaya asked. She had thought she was one of the most knowledgable people there were on camp affairs. How much had she missed?

“It was in the beginning of summer,” Jade whispered. “People were pulling some hardcore pranks, to kick off the year. Nepeta was in Fruity Rumpus, but I was in Paradox Space that time. I think you came later in the summer. You know how they don’t do pranks there?”

“Yeah.” Kanaya could remember Damara wanting to join in, but Aranea and Meulin refusing. She had always wondered why.

“And how Meulin has hearing aids?”

Kanaya paused. “… Yeah?” 

It took Jade a long time to answer. Kanaya wasn’t sure she wanted her to. When she finally did, her voice trembled slightly.

“It was Kurloz and Mituna,” she said softly. “They took a bunch of air horns into Paradox Space, right next to the windows where the beds are. I don’t think they realized what would…”

“Oh my god,” Nepeta interrupted. She sounded horrified. “Are you fur serious?”

“Shh!” Jade hissed. The counselors outside ceased their conversation, and everyone in the cabin held their breath until the voices resumed talking. 

When they had been conversing again for a while, Nepeta continued.

“Dude, I thought she had some kind of accident! So that’s why Latula was so mad at Tuna? Why the hell didn’t those two get fired?”

“Meulin told everyone she had an accident so nobody would get in trouble,” Jade said miserably. “She didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. And no way did she want what Meenah did.”

“What did Meenah do?” Kanaya whispered. 

“Well, Meenah and Porrim. And Damara. They made Mituna think we were in trouble, and… I think he just felt so guilty about Meulin, and… That was the year he got hurt. He wasn’t the same after.”

“I remember that part,” Nepeta said, awed. “I didn’t know why it happened. I just knew Latula and Tuna were fighting, and then they were okay, and Latula was fighting with the other girls.”

Kanaya shook her head in disbelief. “How did I never know about any of this?”

A sleeping bag made a sliding noise as Jade shrugged. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”

The door creaked open. Kanaya instantly pulled her sleeping bag over her head and flopped onto her pillow.

“Girls?” Latula said softly.

No one answered.

“Okay. No more talking. Try to go to sleep.”

She closed the door gently, and Kanaya couldn’t help but notice how sad she sounded. She hoped Latula hadn’t heard what they were discussing. 

No one spoke after that. The only noises were the crickets outside, the occasional rustle of blankets, and the deep, slow breaths of sleeping campers. 

As she drifted off to sleep, Kanaya wondered what would happen in the rest of the week. At first, she had been so convinced it would be awkward and miserable. Then she had thought it would be full of reckless moves and daring memories to be made. Now, she didn’t know what to think.

Only one thought was constant through all her worries, and now, it dominated her mind.

By the summer’s end, someone was going to get hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone is gay, pranks are pulled, and Nepeta completely disregards the rule of "no causing bodily harm."

John was tired and really fucking annoyed, and he was letting everyone in his general vicinity know about it. And by everyone he meant no one, because he was alone. Or at least, that’s what he thought. 

“Why the hell would I even suggest something like this? I want to go back to yesterday and punch past me in the face. He doesn’t know the pain of getting up before sunrise.”  
He was still laying on his bunk, staring at the ceiling. It was littered with pockmarks and holes where past campers had tacked up their photos, and there were still a few pins stuck here and there. A message scrawled in sharpie read “Nektan w/h July 2013.” 

He supposed the graffiti and remnants of past summers could be looked at as sentimental. But really, he just wanted to turn over and go back to sleep.

“I mean, I’m willing to do almost anything if it means the prank will turn out well, but wasting my precious beauty sleep is almost crossing the line. Have you seen this face? It needs proper care, and don’t even get me started on how I keep my complexion this great—”

John paused when he heard someone shifting around to his left. He thought that his cabin mates had all left the room. Had someone been in here with him the entire time?  
He felt his cheeks heat up. Had he just made a total fool of himself? Had he—

His thought was cut off by the noise of someone snorting through their nose, and it was followed by a sentence that made him blush even more and bury his head into his pillow.

“Good to know the new boy has a skin regimen.” Of course the phrase had to be uttered by the one and only person John was worried about the most.

He could feel Dave Strider’s smirk radiating from somewhere below him, and he wanted to slap it right off of his gorgeous face. God damn it.

He didn’t know whether to reply or just pretend he didn’t exist. He didn’t have to think about it too long before Dave spoke up again.

“We should probably get going, I can see Sollux through the window and I think he’s throwing a hissy fit.”

“Uh… I thought you were already outside with everyone? Did you just come back in, or—” Before John could even finish what he was saying, he was interrupted again. How could one boy be so annoying and so attractive at the same time?

“What, worried that I’ll tell them how you talk to yourself? Your weird little secret is safe with me. Anyway, to answer your question, I stayed behind to make sure that you were actually going to get up. I mean, it was your idea, but if you’re not feelin’ it anymore, we’ll just do it without you there. Which would totally suck, not to sway you or anything.”

John sat up, reaching for his glasses. “Of course I was planning to participate, I was just—” he took a moment to wipe the lenses and shove them onto his face. “Taking a little time to wake up.”

“Sounded to me like you just wanted to lay there for 3 hours and complain to yourself. Now get your ass down here before Sollux has an aneurysm. It’s like thirty-somethin’ shit degrees out there and he doesn’t do well in cold weather.” 

“Okay, but,” John stretched and cracked his knuckles when he reached the floor. “Have you ever suggested to him that maybe he should grow a pair? It’s not my fault he stays inside all day eating pop tarts and playing… League… of Fa-Fables? Legend. Or whatev...” His words trailed off when he saw Dave, who had risen from his bunk and now looked at John with an amused smirk. He was leaning against a bedpost with his hands in his pockets, and he looked as chill as could be. Even though his hair was sticking up in every direction and he was clad in a pair of too-small Superman pajama pants. John gulped and rubbed his hands across his eyes.

“Erm… we aren’t supposed to change out of our sleeping clothes? Isn’t it a l-little embarrassing to go out like that?” His voice was shaky and watery sounding, like he had a cold. He cleared his throat and waited for Dave to answer, trying to avoid looking in his general direction.

“Well, it’s still super early. We have extra time to come back and get dressed after this, and I’m too tired right now to do anything. Don’t worry, though. Everyone except for me and you is dressed. All the other guys are too busy tending to the sticks in their asses to chill. You won’t be subjected to the sight of any other pajama-clad hunks. But, uh,” Dave paused, his eyebrows furrowed. 

In a few swift movements, he was almost uncomfortably close to John, leaning up to see him in his top-bunk perch. It seemed like he was inspecting John, but you couldn’t really tell, because Dave’s shades were too dark to see through. 

“Do you have a fever or something? You were cool yesterday, but you look like you’re burning up. Don’t make me have to get all medical on your ass.” He gingerly moved his hand to John’s forehead to check his temperature, but John moved back before Dave could touch him. Dave’s face betrayed no sign of emotion, but he clenched his fist and returned it to his side.

“D-don’t worry, I’m just… tired. Sorry, man. Let’s go get the jump on the girls?” John intended for this to be a confident statement, but it came out more like a question. He internally punched himself. Why was he so embarrassing?  
Dave paused, as if he were shaking off a bad mood. When he answered, his voice was slightly more chipper. “Oh, yeah. It’s gonna be great. And um…” He turned around to grab something from his bed. John tried and failed to not look at his ass. God bless those pajama shorts. 

“You said you forgot to bring your jacket yesterday? And it’s like, super fuckin’ crazy cold out there, so… I thought you could use my extra hoodie.” He thrust it out to John and looked away.

“Oh… Thanks, Dave! Thanks for noticing.” John took the garment from Dave’s hands because hey, who would pass up the chance to wear their crushes jacket? No one.  
It was slightly loose on him even after he zipped it up, and the sleeves reached past his fingertips, but he didn’t mind. “So, are we gonna go?” He glanced out the window. “It’s starting to get light outside.”

When John turned back to look at the other boy, he was staring. John hoped his hair wasn’t sticking up in some kind of weird way.

There was a few more seconds of silence as they studied each other, and John knew he looked like a mega nerd. But Dave wasn’t looking at him with scorn, just curiosity. He was relaxed, probably thinking something along the lines of “Who is this dude and why does he have Permanent Red Face Syndrome?” or “Man, he sure looks cute in my hoodie.”

John mentally hit himself again. It was definitely not the second thought, and he needed to get his mind out of dreamland. Dave was most likely straight, or maybe a little gay— wait, no, John. Stop it… Oh, this wasn’t going to be a fun week, was it.

John was about to literally punch himself because the tension and awkwardness was rising through the roof when Dave coughed into his hand and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go. Be prepared for a huge bitch fit from Sollux.”

***

Three minutes into their trek to the girls’ cabins, a bruise was already forming on John’s eye. Sollux had dealt out more than a bitch fit in anger at John for making him stand out in freezing weather for half an hour. That guy might be spending 18 hours a day with his hands glued onto a gaming device, but he packed a mean punch.

John wasn’t particularly angry, though. He was slightly annoyed that his beautiful looks had been sabotaged by a black eye, but the way that everyone had reacted to it had almost made up for it anyway.

Karkat and Dave had worked together on prying the (contraband) Gameboy Color from the hand that Sollux hadn’t used to assault John, and when they successfully wrestled it free Karkat shoved it down the back of his pants with a loud “You don’t deserve this if you’re going to attack people, dude. I’ll give it back later if you calm the fuck down.”

Meanwhile, Tavros was freaking out to the counselors, and the counselors in return watched with a kind of idle curiosity. Like if a small, annoying dog was barking at you, and you didn’t know or care why. Gamzee was just… doing his thing. Eridan and Caliborn were laughing their asses off while Equius looked uncomfortable about his entire situation. Dirk and Jake were standing off to the side, not really paying attention to anything but each other. No one’s behavior had changed much since the previous night, when everyone had checked in. 

But now they were hiking along normally, all except for Sollux, who was complaining to Karkat about how he was going to have withdrawals. Everyone ignored him.

Dave was walking slightly closer to John than what most people would consider normal, but he was pretending not to notice. He was afraid if he pointed it out Dave would move away. 

He had arrived, reluctantly, at camp the day before. His father had signed him up without telling him, and John was pissed. He had seen the flyers for camp pinned up all over his school ever since kindergarten, but he had never shown any interest in going. He wasn’t really fond of the outdoors. 

His dad had said that it would be good for him, that he would finally make some good friends. When John tried to tell him that he did have friends, like Jade, he was interrupted with a “Good, she goes every year. She can show you the ropes.”

So there John had stood, waiting for his dad to exit their car. He had the handle of his brand new suitcase clasped in his hand and his phone in the other.

“Why are there no bars here?” He muttered to himself as he raised the device above his head. He was about to retract his arm when he saw a hand snake out from behind him and pluck the phone from his fingers.

“Doesn’t matter, having technology is against the rules anyway.” His dad’s words filled John with annoyance and he could feel his spirit draining from his body as he watched his father slide the rectangular device into his pocket.

“Well, are we just going to stand here or do you want to go get checked in?” His father gave him a bright smile that he ignored.

“Yeah, whatever,” was John’s response. He made a mental note to never let his dad make any decisions for him ever again.

They walked a bit until they arrived at a clearing with a building set into it, and gravel roads trailing off past a cottage and into the woods. A woman sat on the porch of the house, and John assumed she must be a staff member.

But the building in the clearing’s center… he didn’t know. It looked important, but he hadn’t bothered on studying up about anything camp-related, and everything was confusing.

While he wandered and observed his surroundings, he had somehow managed to stray away from his father. He was now standing in front of the big, friendly-looking building, and was surrounded by kids that were mostly his age. A sign under a window on the building’s wall read “Sburb Lodge.”

He had no idea where he was supposed to go and was about to call for his dad when he felt a light tap on his shoulder, followed by someone clearing their throat. He turned to face the speaker, and was faced with one of the prettiest boys he’d ever seen.

The guy that had approached him was almost half of a foot taller than John was, and he was clad in black skinny jeans and a red t-shirt that had the symbol of a cracked record on it. His jaw was delicate, but the way his hair was cut in a gentle swoop complimented it well. And, his eyes, well, John didn’t know. He was wearing a heavily shaded pair of aviators, and no matter how hard he tried, John couldn’t see what was hidden underneath them. When he opened his mouth to speak, John noticed that his teeth were almost impossibly straight.  
“Hey. So, you’re a new kid.”

John blushed, partly out of confusion and partly out of attraction. He’d only been standing there for about thirty seconds, how did this boy know who he was? “How did you… figure that out?” His voice wavered. Dammit. 

“Well first of all, you dragged your feet over here, probably losing your mom or dad in the process. Also,” He pointed down at John’s overstuffed suitcase, “You’ve got a big ass bag that’s brand new. You bought it specifically for camp, right? And your face totally gives it away. All the newbies have the exact same expression when they walk in,” He paused and held out his hand for John to shake. “I’m Dave Strider.”

John coughed and took Dave’s hand. “Erm… I’m John.”

“Hmm. Suits you.” Dave released John’s hand and pointed to the building before them. “The check-in place is in here, and I haven’t gotten in line yet, so... you wanna come with?”  
John looked to the line stretched out by their side. Parents and children laughed and tittered, awaiting entrance to their week-long home. He heard someone call out “Next!” and watched as a skinny boy bounded up the steps to the door. 

Dave cleared his throat to get John’s attention back. “If you want to go find your parent or whatever and wait with them, that’s fine, though.” He was about to turn around and walk away when John grabbed his arm.

“No!” John winced at how eager he sounded and quickly slackened his grip on Dave. “I mean… No, I would rather go with you, since you seem to know your way around this place. My dad is probably occupied talking to the other adults anyway.”

Dave paused for a moment, and looked almost… relieved?

“Okay, then. Cool,” he said, as he began walking towards the pack of kids. John followed him.

While they waited in line, Dave began gesturing at some of the people that were walking around, either lugging bags to their cabins or meeting up with their friends.

He started out by pointing at a pale boy that had what looked like self-dyed purple and brown hair. The boy was leaning against the wall of the building with his arms crossed.

“That’s Eridan, a.k.a. Prince Pissbaby Extraordinaire. He has a huge superiority complex and uses like 2 gallons of hair gel a day. I calculated.”

John snorted. “Hope I’m not put in a group with that guy.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to be. One year we started a petition to have him isolated into his own cabin, and we even offered to double up and share our bunks so we didn’t have to be near him. It didn’t sit too well with the staff, though.”

“Anyway.” He pointed to the doors of the lodge where two kids were passing each other, the boy he had seen go in and a girl. “That’s Karkat and Kanaya. Karkat is the opposite of chill, so don’t piss him off. He also has the mouth of a sailor. Kanaya is almost unbearably kind, but she’s cool. I think you two will get along.”

“Mmm. Nice to know.” John took a moment to process the information. “But you haven’t told me anything about yourself, man. How long’ve you been going here?”

Dave’s response was interrupted by the woman yelling “Next!”

“My turn. Let’s see which people I’m paired up with in this year’s fresh hell.” He turned to John. “I’ll talk later.” And with that, he was left alone again.

It wasn’t long before he was called into the building. When he passed by Dave, John felt his hand brush against his side. It made him jump, and he knew he had turned bright red all over again. Did he do that on purpose?

There wasn’t much time to dwell on the lingering feeling of Dave’s fingers on his abdomen, because he immediately slammed into a tall woman.

“Watch it, kid!” She had a loud voice, even though John could tell that she wasn’t trying to yell. Her skin was a toasty brown, and she was wearing shorts and a white polo shirt that had Mindy Fang stitched in blue into the breast pocket.

“S-sorry,” he backed away from her before frantically looking around for an escape route.

She gave him a quick once-over. “Ah,you’re new, huh? Sorry for startling you. Go over there to check in.” She pointed to the right. There was a slim, elegant woman sitting behind a desk. As far as John could see she was dressed in an emerald tank top and was wearing at least 3 necklaces.

He nodded to Ms. Fang and walked over to the table. The woman in green looked up from the paperwork on her desk and smiled at him.

“Name?”

“Oh... John! John Egbert,” he grinned back at her.

“Nice to meet you John, you can call me Ms. Rosa. Let me find who you’ll be staying with.” She flipped through a list of names and hesitated when she spotted his. That wasn’t a good sign. 

“Oh, well,” She cleared her throat. “This is your first year attending, so I’m just going to give you a heads up. You’ve been placed in Kankri’s group, and he can be a bit… overzealous. Just don’t mention anything about your feelings or personal life to him and you’ll be fine! The cabin you’re going to be staying in is in a cabin site called The Medium, and if you can’t find it, just come back and I’ll help you.” She smiled at him again and called out for the next person to enter.

When John exited the lodge, he was surprised to see Dave standing to the right of the steps. It almost looked like he was waiting for him.

When Dave spotted John, his face lit up for a moment, but before John could do a double-take, the expression was gone.

“So who did you get?” Dave said as he fidgeted with a hole in the bottom of his shirt.

“Um… Kankri? Or something,” John replied. “I was going to go look for the cabin after I said goodbye to my dad.”

Dave clicked his tongue. “You don’t have to.”

He paused. “Wait, I mean— go say goodbye to your dad of course, but you won’t need to wander around for long. We’re in the same group.”

John’s heart fluttered at how Dave was smiling at him. Oh, and also the fact that he would be spending most of his time with Mysterious Hot Dude, Dave Strider.

“That’s great! Well, let me go find my dad and say bye and then you can show me where we’ll be staying.”

 

***

Ten minutes later they were sitting inside of the small, one-room cabin with two other boys.

One of them was a slightly chubby boy with skin that looked like it hadn’t seen the light of day for years. Dave introduced him as Sollux. He had his eyes and hands both fixed on what John assumed was some type of Gameboy. The only thing he had said to John so far was “Keep a look out for Kankri. I don’t want him confiscating this thing again.” (Though, it sounded more like “confithcating.” The boy had one of the heaviest lisps John had ever heard).

The other boy was lanky and black, and apparently named Gamzee. He had a lazy smile pasted onto his face and was gazing over the top of John’s head. He hadn’t said much either, but for a different reason, John assumed. 

“We’re pretty sure he’s stoned, like, 100% of the time.He says “motherfucking miracles” a little too much to pass as clean,” Dave had explained, not bothering to lower his voice. “Motherfuckin’ miracles, bro,” Gamzee had echoed in agreement. 

It had been silent for a few minutes when Sollux spoke up again, his thumbs still tapping away on his game. “You should probably tell John about the prank wars. I heard the girls are going hard this year.”

John sat up straight, his interest refueled. “Prank war? I’m a genius at that stuff.”

“Well, that’s good. Because these two shitheads--” Dave gestured at the boys sitting on the ground across from them “— never come up with anything good. We get our asses whooped almost every year.”

“Your saving grace is here, then.” John pointed his thumbs at himself proudly, and then turned the switch in his head to scheming mode.

“So I’m assuming that they haven’t tried anything yet, since it’s not even the first day. That means we can get the jump on them, right?”

Dave furrowed his eyebrows and nodded. “Go on.”

“We’ll need as many people on our team as we can get. That means that we’ll have to get all the other guys on board. Anyway, we all get up extremely early tomorrow morning and walk over to the girl’s cabins. And then we yell.”

Dave paused. “You mean we just… yell? Like, to wake them up? That seems like a good way to start things off, I guess. Simple, yet effective.”

“It’s a cool idea, right? We’ve just gotta go tell the other guys and—” John was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. He could hear Sollux scrambling to hide his Gameboy as he turned to see who was entering.

John was greeted by the sight of a small, strict looking man. He had short, curly brown hair and bright hazel eyes. When he saw that all four boys were present, he approached them.

“Gamzee, Sollux, Dave, and… you must be John. I’m Kankri, nice to meet you,” He bent down and inspected John’s features, and then moved on to look closely at every other boy.

“I would like all of you to follow me back outside to greet the other campers,” He said this like it wasn’t a request, but a command.

John pushed himself off of the floor, followed by Dave, Sollux, and Gamzee. They shuffled outside behind Kankri.

There were five other boys standing around outside, and two more young adults. John went around greeting every one of them, while Dave followed behind him and broke down what was going to happen in the morning. Most of them agreed to participate, including Karkat and a timid-looking hispanic boy who introduced himself as Tavros.

“Make sure to tell your counselors, too,” Dave told them.

There was an oddly bald-looking guy that said his name was Caliborn, and he agreed to do it, saying, “Anything to piss off the girls.” John made a note not to get near him unless it was absolutely necessary. 

When they got to Eridan, he said pranks were for losers.

Dave had responded with “Then why aren’t you going to join in? Everyone knows you’re the lamest one here,” Which had earned a snicker from the muscled boy to Eridan’s left.

“Shut up, Equius,” Eridan hissed to the laughing boy. Blood was beginning to steadily rise to his face.

“Fuck, you know what? I don’t care. I’ll do it. But if we get punished or if Fef gets angry at me I’m blaming it all on you two.”

“Whatever, man, Feferi doesn’t even like you anymore. Just make sure to be up and in front of our cabin by five a.m.” Dave grabbed John’s arm and hauled him back to where their two cabin mates were standing.

“So now that we have that all set up, what now?” Dave crossed his arms and turned to face John.

“Well, we just… wait? Or, like, sleep or something? I’m really god damn cold and I don’t want to be near that creep.” John pointed over his shoulder at Caliborn.

“Don’t you have a jacket or something? The mornings and nights here get super cold,” Dave seemed almost concerned, and it made John blush.

“No, I uh… forgot to bring one, actually,” He bit his lip and cringed at how embarrassing he sounded.

“Mmm. Whatever, bro. You can figure it out tomorrow, I guess. And I am pretty tired, once you mention it. I’ll go ask Kankri if we can go to bed a little earlier than usual. Should delight him.”

***

“John. John! Where are you even going? You were about to walk headfirst into a tree.” John was shaken from his thoughts as Karkat grabbed his arm.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, I was just thinking about…” He looked around. “We’re here?”

“Yeah,” Karkat let go of him and turned to look at the three cabins that were lined up in front of them. They were all brightly painted, looking very different from the ones that the boys were staying in.

“So, are we just going to… scream?” Tavros piped up.

“Basically,” Dave responded.

When no one took the initiative to open their mouths, John took the opportunity. He yelled at the top of his lungs, and saw Tavros jump at the sound.

Dave and Karkat joined in next, then came Equius and Tavros. Caliborn was the loudest of all of them. When Karkat noticed that Eridan wasn’t participating, he elbowed him in the ribs.

It was almost two minutes before any of the girls came out of their cabins. The first girl John recognized was his friend Jade, and behind her was the girl he had seen last night. Kanaya. Around the same time another girl came out of the cabin to the left. She had short dark hair, and before John could register her face, her fist was in his. 

His yelling stopped abruptly when he was punched in the face for the second time that morning. This time, though, it was much worse. He could hear how loudly his teeth cracked against each other, and after a moment he tasted blood. He let out a whimper, and the girl snorted.

Through his tear-blurred vision, John watched as she went around the group of boys and repeated the process on all of them. In under thirty seconds they were all either doubled over on the ground, cradling their faces, or hightailing it out of the girl’s cabin site (in the case of Tavros).  
She then marched back to the cabin she had come out of and opened the door. Three girls hopped out, applauding the short haired-one’s performance. Soon enough, every other cabin was vacated and they were surrounded by a crowd of pissed off teenage girls.

“Nice one, Egbert.” John heard Dave speak up from behind him. “I don’t think I’ll have you making up the plans for the pranks after this.”

John groaned and put his face in his hands. His cheeks burned and stung all at once. Of course something like this had to happen.

“Sorry, I… I’ll just…” He could feel how raw his throat was. 10 points to him for coming up with a genius plan that he now wanted to title “How to Fuck Up your Voice by Yelling in the Middle of a Forest.” 

“Shit, I’m sorry. Sorry for the… injury.” John craned his neck to glare at the short-haired girl, but his view was blocked by another girl.

It was Kanaya, and she looked almost as flustered as he felt. She was standing a few feet in front of him, a bit further away than any of the other girls. Her eyes rested not on him, or any of the boys, but a blonde girl who looked exceedingly tired and grumpy. The tired girl seemed not to notice the gaze, but a soft smile was present on Kanaya’s face anyhow. 

He didn’t know why, but he got up and shuffled over to her.

“Hi, uh… you’re Kanaya, right?” He coughed and flinched at how scratchy his voice sounded.

She gave him a weird look and backed up a little bit.

“Yes… Why do you ask?”

“No reason! I just… wanted to introduce myself.”

“Oh yes, because the boy that just shouted me awake wants to make my acquaintance? How did you know my name, anyway?”

He blushed. “Dave was showing me around yesterday, and he pointed you out to me. I thought it was no big deal.”

Kanaya’s eyes widened slightly. “Dave was talking to you? You must be some kind of special. He usually never interacts with anyone new, or anyone at all, for that matter.” She grasped his shoulders and spun him around, giving him a good inspection.

“You’ve got his jacket on, too, which suggests that he’s giving you some kind of superior treatment.”

“Yeah, but—” John glanced past Kanaya and saw the girl who had punched him talking to the blonde Kanaya had smiled at. ”You were totally just ogling that girl, right?”

She slapped a finger to his mouth, hushing him. Her eyes darted to the blonde girl, a blush deepening on her pale cheeks. 

“No, no! Rose is just a… a friend. Not even that, really, we just, I... Um…”

John removed her finger from his face. “You mean you’re absolutely head over heels for her, right?” 

Kanaya was about to deny it when the door to the pink cabin slammed open to reveal a girl, no, a counselor, with pink glasses and two long braids. She pointed at Mituna and Horuss, the two counselors that had come with them.

“Oi, fucknuggets! You disrupted my precious sleeping schedule, so this means war!”

Mituna responded by flipping her off and blowing a raspberry in her direction while Horuss yelled, “It’s on!”

“I swear, I’ll get you--” she was interrupted by a dark-skinned girl with mountains of long black hair, who whispered urgently in her ear. 

“After we get ready and have breakfast!”

John’s stomach rumbled at the thought of food. He looked over at the boys’ counselors hopefully, and when they yelled back that they also needed to take a break to get ready for the day, John let out a breath of relief.

*** 

Hours had passed since his unsuccessful prank, and John still felt the ache of knuckles connecting with his cheekbone. At breakfast the girls had taunted and sneered at them, promising vengeance. The blood on his face no longer showed, as all the boys had cleaned their wounds to prevent Kankri noticing, but the dark-haired girl, Nepeta, was still particularly smug for the rest of the day. 

But, if he could forget his awful morning, John would have to admit to himself that camp was pretty fun. His and Mituna’s cabins had gone to Nature together, where a man called Mr. Summoner had taken them on a hike around the lake and taught them to identify poison ivy. John had gotten to try zip lining for the first time on the challenge course with Ms. Redglare. And while the art instructor, Mr. Highblood, was enthusiastic in a strange sort of way, that had been fun, too. 

After lunch they had gone to boating, where they had narrowly escaped deep trouble when Vriska and Eridan’s canoes collided and nearly toppled. They both insisted it was an accident to Mr. Dualscar, but when left alone, John heard Vriska mutter something along the lines of “really gonna dunk him next time.”

Maybe John’s dad had been right. This was pretty okay. 

And it turned out, it would only get better. On the walk back from dinner, Dave fell into step beside John. 

“Hey,” John said awkwardly, trying to gauge if Dave was still mad from the morning. They hadn’t spoken much all day, but John hoped this was a sign of forgiveness.

“Hey,” Dave responded. “Sorry for being a douche earlier.”

“It’s fine. It was stupid anyway,” John admitted. “So… Do we have plans for the next prank?” 

Dave grinned. “Oh, yeah. We’ll show ‘em we mean business tomorrow.”

John found himself speechless and feeling very stupid. Why, oh why, did his little gay brain go so blank at the sight of Dave’s smile?

“That’s good,” he said lamely. “So, um… Do you think Eridan and Vriska are going to end up drowning, or do you think they’re just having a fling?”

Dave laughed. John wished he could freeze that moment and savor it forever. Unfortunately, they had reached the cabin site, and now had to focus on getting ready for bed. 

John tried to talk to Dave numerous more times as they went about their nighttime routine, but was always interrupted by other kids, loss of courage, or, worst of all, his first lecture from Kankri. (It dragged on for almost 20 minutes before he sent them to go brush their teeth).

Just when they were about to rush from the cabin and away from the endless, endless speech, the first rock hit.

It was more of a pebble, really. It tapped lightly against the wooden walls, and at first no one noticed. They definitely did notice when they opened the door and another streaked inside, clattering onto the floor. 

The boys glanced at each other, then out into the forest. 

Numerous flashlights clicked on in unison, shining out of the trees and into their eyes. A war cry erupted from the woods and suddenly, small to medium-sized rocks rained onto the boys’ cabins in a downpour of stone and fury. 

 

Dave slammed the door shut. The rattling of the walls as they were hit sounded like artillery fire. Kankri growled furiously and marched over to a window. He reached out a hand to shove it open, but reconsidered.

“MEENAH!” he yelled. “STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!”

A chorus of laughter came from the attacking girls. They did not cease fire.

Dave sighed, slightly amused. “You have to hand it to them,” he whispered. “It’s a better first prank than ours.”

John blushed, ready to stammer out yet another apology, but Dave smiled. He meant no harm, John could see. 

“Oh, um,” John started. The clatter of rocks on the roof and walls filled in his awkward silence. He tugged at the sleeves of Dave’s hoodie, which he had kept on all day. “So, do you want this back?”

Dave shook his head. “Nah, you can keep wearing it if you want. I don’t need it, and it looks good on you.”

These words thrilled John so much he hardly noticed the regained silence. 

The girls had run out of ammo, and the boys leaned out their cabin doors to jeer as their enemies filed back to their own home base. 

Once in bed, John fell asleep rather quickly. It had been an eventful day, and tomorrow promised to be another. 

He was falling into the rhythm of Camp Skaia, and as he breathed in and out, it soothed him. His thoughts grew hazy as he slipped away into dreams. 

He was starting to really see why people loved this place so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo yo so me and Jon (veiku) are taking turns writing chapters for this fic and both of our schedules are crazy busy, so apologies if we make you wait for chapter updates! We are definitely seeing this through to the end though, so don't worry. It's my turn for the next chapter, so that may or may not be posted next week.
> 
> -Natalie (rosesandrecords)
> 
> Edit: Everyone in this au mostly goes to school together, except John and Jade (who go together) and Rose.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT TO WRITE THIS
> 
> It's been super long since I updated and anybody who read this has probably given up on it, but, I tried.
> 
> -rosesandrecords

Kanaya’s dreams took a turn when the sound of ticking broke through. 

She had been happily seated on her imagined version of the camp’s dock, watching the sunset with Rose, when the dream shifted. The pink cotton candy clouds turned ashen, and the edges of her vision pulsed with red light. A ticking noise pounded in her ears…

Someone slapped her across the face, and she woke with a start. 

Jade was shaking her frantically. “Get up, get up!”

Kanaya winced, pressing her hands over her ears. The ticking had been no figment of her imagination. “What is that awful sound?” 

Nepeta looked up from where she was seated on Feferi’s bunk. “It’s Latula’s alarm clock. Help me get Feferi up, quick!”

Kanaya sat up, wriggling out of her sleeping bag. “Why is it so loud? Where’s Latula?”

“Outside. You won’t want to be in here when it goes off,” said Jade grimly. “Oh, to be in Meulin’s cabin again… You should get dressed.”

Kanaya rolled off her bed and began rifling through her trunk for a suitable outfit. She threw on a swimsuit and Camp Skaia tank top as Jade and Nepeta shoved Feferi. 

“Get up, you lazy lump of fur!” Nepeta said, tugging on the sleeping girl’s arm. She received only a groan in response as Feferi turned over in her sleep. 

Nepeta shook her haid. “Not my fault if you get hearing damage.”

The ticking sped up into one long, rolling tone. The girls looked up in panic. 

“EVERYBODY OUT!” 

Everone (excepting Feferi) raced for the door and fought to be the first one out. As they tripped over the steps to the ground, there was a moment of silence. Kanaya held her breath.

A robotic voice blared from inside the cabin.

“DROP THE BASS.”

Kanaya clapped her hands over her ears once again as an explosion of sound burst forth from the cabin. There was a muffled scream, and Feferi tumbled out the door. The music stopped with a click. Kanaya removed her hands from her ringing ears. 

“Owww,” Feferi moaned, curling into a ball on the earthy ground. “Latulaaa!”

Kanaya turned to see their counselor, holding a remote and grinning. “You’ll need to get used to the routine again, girl!”

“You made it louder than last year,” Feferi complained. “How is that even possible?” She slowly sat up, brushing dirt off her pink pajamas. 

Meenah poked her head out of a neighboring cabin. “There’s something illegal about that alarm, I gotta say. Maybe tone it down a notch? It’s not just the kids’ ears you’re destroying.”

Latula smiled apologetically. “If you insist. Buuuuut… This way we’ll be first in line for pancakes!”

Feferi still looked sullen. Meenah glanced at her before speaking. 

“Aaaaand we have swimming for our second activity, that’s really soon when you think about it…”

It was comical how quickly Feferi’s expression changed. She bolted into the cabin, presumably to change clothes. 

“That’s how you do it,” said Meenah, giving Latula a satisfied punch in the shoulder. 

“Yes, its always a treat to watch you manipulate children,” Porrim said amusedly. Her girls had just exited their cabin, yawning and stretching. 

“Manipulation, shmanipulation. That’s literally what being a counselor is all about.”

Nepeta wiped the sleep from her eyes. “What do we have furst? And after swimming, what—I mean, what’s today’s schedule?”

“Archery first,” Porrim answered. “Then swimming, and later on we have cabin time.”

Nepeta pumped a fist. “Purrfect! We can plan our next purrank!”

“I can’t handle this many cat puns this early in the morning,” Vriska muttered under her breath.

“We also have to plan our skit for tonight’s campfire,” Latula reminded them. “I think that takes top priority.” 

Nepeta frowned. “Okay then. Do you know what’s fur dinner tonight?”

Kanaya listened absentmindedly to Nepeta’s impatient questions, her mind on other things. Like how Rose had just made eye contact with her from across the cabin site.

The counselors slowly herded the girls out of the cabin site and began the walk to the mess hall. Kanaya started to pay more attention to the chatter once it turned to the subject of the campfire. 

Kanaya adored campfires. Especially the ones that included the entire camp. The individual ones that different sites sometimes held were nice, of course, but nothing compared to the feeling of community when the entire camp gathered around the roaring flames. 

Standard procedure was for each cabin to present a song or skit. Everyone would laugh and have a great time. Bats would fly overhead. Sparks would dance and spirits would soar, reminding Kanaya of how splendid it was simply to live. 

After all her years of camp she knew almost every song and skit in existence, and she could usually come up with good suggestions when the cabin needed them. Every year there was fierce competition to call dibs on the funniest skits, with the Fruity Rumpus or Incipisphere cabins landing the best ones. 

Kanaya felt a light touch on her arm. It was Rose. She blushed immediately.

“Mosquito on you,” Rose said lightly. “Try not to blush too hard. You’ll attract more.”

Kanaya wished Rose wouldn’t call such attention to her embarrassment. Why couldn’t she be more oblivious, like Vriska always had been?

“What’s on your mind?” Rose said, her voice surprisingly gentle. 

Kanaya blinked. Was Rose trying to start a conversation? With her? She should respond. That’s what a normal, not embarrassed, not starstruck person would do. She should definitely respond. If only she could make her mouth move. 

“I, um. I’m just thinking about the campfire tonight,” Kanaya said quickly. Rose nodded.

“I hear this camp has some great ones. Tell me about them?”

This was definitely a conversation brewing. 

“Well, you see, um. All the cabins go to the clearing outside the lodge, and there’s this big fire, um, and everyone has a skit to do. Or a song. Um, do you know what camp skits are like?”

Kanaya spent the rest of the walk to breakfast telling Rose about the magic of campfires, and marveling at how easily the conversation came once it began. With the exception of her stuttering and occasional loss for words, she felt she was doing quite well at this whole interaction-with-crush thing. 

They had to wait a while in the food line, but their talking did not cease. Kanaya was elated when Rose took a seat next to her, and even more so when she began to realize that Rose was smiling and laughing. That she was enjoying this. 

Rose was witty and intelligent, and it was a pleasure to hear her speak. Kanaya hoped she would never stop (and wondered why they hadn’t done this sooner). 

The two of them continued bantering back and forth well into their first activity, archery. They whispered while the instructor gave them directions and talked whenever they were given the chance. 

“One of the staff usually tells a story at the end. I think Dee will tonight, you know, Ms. Sciple? You’ve probably seen her, the one with the clipboard and the funny shirts,” Kanaya whispered. “Or I hope she will. She has the best stories.”

“Yes, I’ve seen her,” Rose murmured back. “What kind of stories does she tell?”

A fist banged down on the table next to them, making Kanaya jump. 

“No talking while I’m talking,” Mr. Executor muttered. Kanaya sat up straight and shut her mouth. It wasn’t a wise idea to mess with someone who was holding a large bow and set of arrows. 

“Did he just crack the table with his hand?” Rose whispered in awe when he moved away. Kanaya fought back a snort. 

Mr. Executor continued his lecture. “As I was saying, never dry-fire the bow. It can shatter and cause a very painful and plexi-glass filled death.”

Kanaya decided it was safe to keep talking. “I think she writes all her stories herself. They’ve got romance, heroism, and sacrifice, and morals, and everything. Nobody else likes them much, but I don’t know why. I think she’s inspired.” 

Their instructor cleared his throat. “Right. Everybody wearing… green. Step forward into the firing range.”

Kanaya sighed and stood up. She was joined by Nepeta, Callie, and a couple of the boys, one of whom she knew. John waved to her enthusiastically. 

Oh God. 

Of course the one boy who knew of her crush had to be openly social. Kanaya telepathically willed him not to come closer. Shut up, telepathy exists and she definitely was born with these amazing powers. 

He must be immune. 

“Hi,” he said cheerfully. Jane, Vriska, Terezi, and another boy were beckoned into the range. 

“What’s up?”

Kanaya didn’t answer him, debating whether she should continue trying to will him away or stick with the polite option. 

“Aww, you’re not still sore over yesterday morning, are you? All’s fair in love and war!” John lowered his voice. “And speaking of love, did you—

If looks could kill, John would be very, very dead after the glare Kanaya shot at him. “Oops,” he whispered. “Don’t talk about that here? Kay. Got it.” He mimed zipping his lips shut. 

Kanaya would prefer for him not to speak of it at all, but she didn’t press the issue. Vriska was starting to edge in their direction, smelling secrets. Kanaya avoided her gaze and changed the subject. 

“You’re holding the arrow wrong. The funny feather faces up, remember?”

After a while of shooting together and talking about things that _weren’t_ gay crushes, Kanaya found John to be not that bad. He was mind-blowingly oblivious, but not insufferable. And they were both horrid at archery. 

She watched attentively when it was Rose’s turn to shoot, ignoring John’s eyebrow motions at the two of them. Rose wasn’t a natural, but she wasn’t as bad as Kanaya. She glanced over, seeming a bit embarrassed when her arrows bounced off the target. 

She was just too adorable. 

What definitely _wasn’t_ adorable was the purple-haired prick not-so-subtly eyeing rose. Her arrow fell short of the target, and he sidled up next to her, putting his hand on hers. Kanaya bristled. 

This asshole was unfortunately one she was familiar with. Yet another of her schoolmates, he had a notorious reputation for flirting with anything that moved. 

“Eridan Ampora I swear I will smack the highlights out of your stupid hipster hair if you do not remove your hand from her this instant,” Kanaya said through gritted teeth. He was too far away to hear. Kanaya wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. 

“Wait, do you know him?” John asked, looking back and forth between Eridan and Kanaya. 

“Shut up! I want to hear what he’s saying to her.”

Kanaya watched closely as Eridan tugged gently at Rose’s arm. Her grip on the drawn bowstring did not falter. 

“I’m perfectly aware of how to fire an arrow, thank you,” Rose said coolly. “Now, if you’d please get your hand off me. We wouldn’t want you getting hit.”

She jerked the bowstring back and let the arrow fly. It sunk into the center of the target and stayed fast, quivering in place. 

Kanaya sat open-mouthed for a second before leaping to her feet and cheering. 

Rose fell back into her seat next to Kanaya after shooting a few more arrows. Eridan had withdrawn sulkily to his own station, and Rose and Kanaya were both grinning widely at his humiliation. 

“That was so cool!” Kanaya exclaimed.

“Thanks. I guess the fates understand when you’re getting unwanted attention. Even if he couldn’t see it, they can clearly tell my interests lie elsewhere.” Rose looked at Kanaya with a smile. 

Kanaya reminded herself to breathe. But breathing seemed a waste when she could divert her entire being to returning the look Rose was giving her. The air seemed charged with electricity. 

“SWIMMIIIIING!” Feferi bellowed, shattering the moment. “LETSGOLETSGOLETSGOOO!!!”

“That girl has an unhealthy obsession with water,” Rose sighed, standing up. A second later she was sucked into the gaggle of campers bumbling along to the waterfront. 

Kanaya watched sadly as she went. She had the feeling Rose wouldn’t be next to her again for a while. 

It took a moment for her to register John sitting across from her and wiggling his eyebrows again. 

“What is it?”

“Dude!” he burst out. “She was SO flirting with you!”

Kanaya looked down. “I don’t think so.”

John slapped a hand on the tabletop. “Kanaya, I have never been more sure of anything in my life than I am that that girl was just flirting with you.”

Kanaya shrugged. “Well, I see where you’re coming from. But she can’t be _serious_ about it.”

John rolled his eyes. “Did you see how disappointed she looked when she got pulled away from you? She just wants to be by your side, in the throes of passion!” He giggled. “Or something like that. Haha.”

He stood up and glanced at his cabinmates exiting the archery range. “Well, see you at swimming.” 

Kanaya stood as well. She supposed she should rejoin her group. She was excited for swimming.

And it definitely wasn’t because she’d get to see rose in her bathing suit, no sir.

***

It wasn’t hard for her to catch up to her group, though if Feferi had been allowed to go as fast as she wanted, it would have been. Rose was right, there was definitely something wrong about Feferi’s relationship with water. She was now at the front of the group, darting as far ahead as she could before being called back. 

“It’s not far, Feferi,” Porrim consoled her. “We’re almost there. It’s a minute away. Look, it’s right there. It’s—well, there she goes.”

The group traipsed into the waterfront, Feferi already stuffing her clothes into a cubby by the time they walked through the entrance. They followed her lead before gathering on the beach, where the lifeguard was waiting. 

Ms. Fang, the head lifeguard, studied them for a moment before going over the waterfront procedures.

“Okay. You all look like a good bunch. I expect every one of you to listen carefully: today is swim test day. What color you get will determine where you’re allowed to swim.” 

Kanaya swirled a pattern in the sand with her finger. She’d heard the waterfront rules a million times. She had gotten green, the highest skill ranking, last year, and it wasn’t like she was going to get any worse at swimming. 

Rose was sitting a short distance from Kanaya, a couple of seats over. She wore a ruffled lavender bikini, a stylish choice which Kanaya approved of. She was suddenly glad she had gotten a new bikini this year and not brought her old faded one-piece. 

Rose looked over at her, and Kanaya whipped her head back towards Ms. Fang, pretending to be listening to her lecture on what to do if you found yourself drowning. 

“Okay, that should be everything. How about… Meenah and Latula’s cabins, come on up.”

Kanaya stood, dusting sand off of her legs and feeling exposed as she walked by Rose. Her feet made wet patting sounds as she walked down the dock. 

“Alright, hop in, do five bobs. I want heads totally underwater or you do them again,” Ms. Fang instructed. Kanaya slid into the chilly water and did as she was told, but Nepeta stayed stubbornly on the dock’s edge. 

“Nope. Not doing it,” she said, shaking her head firmly. 

Kanaya ducked her head underwater while Nepeta argued with Ms. Fang. When she came back up a fifth time, the lifeguard was shaking her head in exasperation. “All right. Go sit down, I’ll make you red.”

Nepeta seemed to have no problem receiving the lowest skill rank, considering she probably wouldn’t swim at all. She skipped back to shore and took a seat on a log, pulling a loop of string out from her cubby and starting to play cat’s cradle with one of the boys. 

The swim test was relatively easy. Treading water and doing a few laps didn’t require much talent. The only problem was, for the test, you weren’t allowed goggles. Coming back from her second lap, Kanaya bumped her head on the dock’s edge and came up with her face screwed up in pain. 

“Need some help there?” Rose asked, concerned. She reached out her hand to grab Kanaya’s, putting the other hand on her hip to stabilize her until they were standing face to face on the dock. Kanaya felt like she was underwater again, struggling to breathe. 

“You’re a good swimmer, Rose,” Feferi said suddenly, making Rose release her grip on Kanaya’s waist. 

“My house is above a waterfall. I’ve got some experience.”

Kanaya sighed internally. Once again, her moment had been stolen. She wished Rose would turn back to her. Rose should be talking to her, not Feferi, damnit! If only she would turn around again… 

It had been two days. 

Two days, and Rose already held Kanaya’s heart in her hands. If Kanaya wasn’t careful this would end up like Vriska all over again, painful and embarrassing. Well, she wouldn’t let that happen. She wouldn’t stand for it! From now on, Kanaya Maryam would keep herself in check. 

She wouldn’t let herself fall so easily. 

***

All the members of Latula’s cabin sat in a circle, discussing how they should prank the boys next. 

“All right, no more prank talk until we get our skit figured out, okay?” Latula said, frustrated.

“What?” Nepeta protested. “If we don’t get a good one in, they’re gonna win!”

“We’ll have plenty of time later.”

“Meenah always makes pranks top priority,” Nepeta muttered. 

Latula gave her a sharp look. “Well, I’m not Meenah, and I do things differently.” Her face clearly read “end of discussion”.

“Does anyone have any ideas for tonight’s campfire?”

Kanaya raised a hand. “We could do the invisible bench,” she suggested. 

“Nah, that one’s overdone. Maybe the beaver song?” Jade said hopefully. 

“Ooh! Ooh!” Feferi gasped. “Let’s do pickpocket!”

Latula nodded in approval. “Sounds good. Does everyone know that one?” The girls all nodded. “Cool. We’ll need more people, though. Who should I grab?”

“Meenah’s group,” Kanaya said instantly. Yes, she was taking charge of her emotions, but it couldn’t hurt to do a skit with Rose…

Latula propped open a window and leaned out. “Yo, Meenah!” she called.

A door opened across the cabin site. “Yeah?”

“Wanna do pickpocket tonight?”

“Sounds cool, gimme a sec.”

Latula ducked back in. “It’s a go! Let’s get outside and practice.”

The premise of the skit was simple. Each cabin would be an opposing team, fighting for supremacy in a battle of pickpocketing. They would compete in one-on-one rounds, the pairs walking up and bumping into each other, grabbing something in the process. With each round, the amount of contact between them would decrease, and the value of the items stolen would increase. 

They took some time to work out what would be stolen in each round, weighing what would get the most gasps of appreciation or peals of laughter. Everyone agreed that it would be funnier to have your deodorant snatched than your goggles, (though Feferi insisted the latter were more important). 

It was only on the way to lunch that Nepeta realized they had never discussed pranks and started to complain once again. Jade elbowed her before the counselors heard.

“What the hell?” Nepeta said angrily, rubbing her side. “What was—

“It’s pretty obvious that Latula doesn’t want to get too heavily involved in the prank war this year, and if you don’t shut up she might back out completely!” Jade hissed. “If you can’t be considerate for her, and least think of what’s at stake for you!”

“Oh,” Nepeta said, looking ashamed. “Sorry. I just wanna get them back.”

“I think you did that yesterday,” said Jade, rolling her eyes. 

***  
Lunch was a pleasant affair. Kanaya was able to successfully distract herself from the fact that Rose wasn’t sitting next to her, and in boating, resist the urge to beg to be her partner. She ended up paddling around the lake with Aradia, who was nice, and fortunately willing to stay towards the edge of the lake rather than participate in the races and ramming going on in the center. 

After that they had art, which passed in a blur. Soon they were heading back to the cabin site for their shower supplies. 

“I hope the water isn’t as cold as yesterday,” Feferi sighed.

Kanaya agreed. “And the pressure is more than a drizzle.”

Jade patted them both on the shoulder. “We can dream, can’t we?”

Kanaya was contemplating whether she should wash her hair in the sink, which actually had some degree of water pressure, when a twig snapped off the path next to them. This would normally be a typical noise of the forest, if it weren’t accompanied by a muffled “shit!” and “shut up!”

She stopped and stared into the trees. A pair of wide blue eyes stared back at her. 

“GO, GO, GO!”

The girls yelped as a horde of boys lept from the brush, running straight for them. They each seemed to have a specific target. Tavros scampered to Kanaya’s side.

“Uh, sorry,” he stammered. “But I’m just gonna, uh, take that!” He plucked her shower bag from her hands and was gone in a flash, darting back into the woods. Kanaya stared blankly at her now-empty hands.

“No you DON’T!” Jade wrestled her bag from Dave’s hands. “My acne wash is in there, you jerk!”

Dave made a few halfhearted attempts to grab it back before releasing the bag and jogging over to rejoin his cohorts. 

“The ugly bald one took my berry body wash!” Nepeta seethed. 

“Did you seriously just do nothing to stop that,” Jane said to the counselors in a deadpan. 

“It’s okay, they’re just amatuers. We’ll steal your shit back,” Meenah assured her. “And I doubt y’all would’ve had a good enough shower to wash your hair or anything anyway.”

“That water’s hella frigid,” Latula smiled. “And this way, instead of wasting our time freezing… how ‘bout we make some wicked revenge plans?

“Who’s got ideas?”

Jane’s hand shot into the air. Porrim nodded to her.

“Let’s dunk their cabin signs in the lake,” she said, her bucktoothed grin devilish. The girls let out a collective murmur of excitement. 

Cabin signs were a big deal. When a counselor became an overnight staff member instead of a day camp counselor, they were given a hand-carved sign with their name on it, which they could decorate however they liked. They were a source of immense pride. (Meenah was particularly fond of her hot pink, glittery, bedazzled sign).

Porrim nodded slowly. “I like it. Everyone in?” The group whooped. “That sounds like a majority. So, we’ll throw the signs from the Incipisphere and the Medium in the lake, excluding Kankri’s because he’s a tattler and everyone knows it. The boys have showers in the morning, so we may as well do it tomorrow while they’re away.”

There was some dissent at the idea of waiting, but it was clearly the smartest option. “Well, that was quick,” Meenah said, impressed. “Anyone up for some last-minute skit rehearsal?”

Vriska bumped into her and reached into the back pocket of her shorts. “Stole your paycheck,” she grinned.

Meenah slapped her affectionately. “Cheeky.”

***

At last, the time had arrived! Through dinner Kanaya had been buzzing with excitement for the fire. Now, she followed Jade and Nepeta down the gentle slope to the fire pit near the lakeshore. They took their seats on the logs arranged in the shape of an ampitheater around the fire. Rose sat down in front of Kanaya, who took a deep breath and worked up her courage. 

Kanaya poked Rose in the back. “Break a spine,” she whispered.

Rose looked at her, confused. “What?”

Ah, there was the blush Kanaya had so (not) missed. “Um, I don’t know. It’s just a thing Damara used to say. I think it’s like ‘break a leg’ only better. But on second thought that might have just been the language barrier.”

Rose smiled and dipped her head. “Then, break a spine to you as well, I suppose.”

“Good evening, Camp Skaia!” a voice boomed from below. “Who wants to see some SICK FIRES?”

“I DO!” Tavros shrieked. Everyone laughed, and he sank into his seat, blushing. 

Kanaya craned her neck to see around the heads of campers in front of her. Curse Gamzee for being so tall. 

The speaker, Mr. Summoner, emerged from the woods opposite them to much clapping and hooting. He brandished a flaming torch. 

He bowed slightly. 

“Without further ado!”

He raised his torch, and the pile of wood before them burst into flames. Everyone cheered. There was much screaming and muttering of “how did he even do that?”

Ms. Sciple hurried over to Mr. Summoner’s side. She motioned for everyone to quiet down, and pulled out her clipboard. 

“First on tonight’s skit roster,” she announced. “We have… Aranea’s cabin!”

Aranea’s girls had a routine when it came to campfires. Every time they would make up a whole new skit, which nobody found funny except them, and perform it. They could barely say their lines without collapsing into giggles. It wasn’t the best of shows, but they seemed to have a good time with it, so Kanaya clapped with sincere appreciation. 

They went through the roster, starting with some classic skits, a song here or there, and a couple of skits making fun of staff members (the funniest coming from Mituna’s boys).

“This is hellz of radical!” Eridan said, wearing a pair of red glasses and making a peace sign. “Lets get some skateboards and get our wicked grindz on, yo!”

“Boo, inaccuracy,” Latula called. “I woulda said ‘sick’.”

Eridan leapt back with mock surprise as Karkat burst into the scene. Kanaya leaned in for a better view.

“Now hold on just one second!” Karkat shouted, holding up his hands. “You all should be made aware that I find this mockery of my colleagues incredibly triggering!”

Kanaya giggled. She wasn’t the only one. It was easy to see who he had been assigned to impersonate, and he was doing very well.

Karkat’s face turned red. “Really! You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves for exhibiting amusement at such an offensive portrayal of authority! The little ‘performance’ could cause any number of—

The real Kankri was standing on the sidelines, bristling with indignation. Karkat didn’t stop. 

“Why aren’t you listening to me?” he shrieked, flapping his hands about and stomping his feet angrily. “I’m trying to make a point about crude and immature behav—stop LAUGHING! I’m going to keep talking even while you laugh because I don’t realize how ridiculous I am! I’m going to talk for hours and hours about proper conduct and regulations! Golly gee, I sure do love the sound of my own voice!”

“Now wait just one minute!” Kankri shouted furiously. The crowd erupted into hysterical laughter. 

He opened his mouth to yell at Karkat, then turned back toward the crowd, who were still laughing at him. “This is—how can—SOMETHING WILL BE DONE ABOUT THIS!” he blustered, turning as red as his omnipresent turtleneck. There were tears of laughter streaming down Jade’s face as she grabbed onto Kanaya for support. 

“I can’t breathe,” Nepeta gasped, silently shaking with mirth. 

The camp cheered as Karkat took a bow and ran off. It took a while for everyone to catch their breath and settle down. One last snort escaped Kanaya at the sight of Kankri glaring at Karkat and muttering to himself. 

“Great job, boys. Really, well done. Next, we have,” Dee consulted her clipboard,” Latula and Meenah! That’ll be a tough act to follow, girls. Do you have it in you?”

“Hellz yeah,” Latula yelled, grinning at Eridan as she did so. The girls hopped off their logs and assembled in front of the fire, forming two lines facing each other. 

“Welcome,” Meenah said dramatically. “To the thirty-first annual PICK-POCKETING CHAMPIONSHIP!” The camp applauded. “These girls’ve been polishing up their skills, and now the time has come, for our contest of thievery.” Vriska grinned slyly. Nepeta made claws with her hands and bared her teeth. 

“We will have one pairing for each round. Let’s see whose pockets get picked, folks.” 

Aradia and Nepeta stepped out of their lines. They walked slowly and deliberately past each other, bumping heavily into one another when they were in the center of the two lines. Once they were on the opposite side they had started on, they turned back to face each other.

“Present your prize!” Meenah commanded. 

“I got your flashlight,” Nepeta purred, pulling a flashlight out of her pocket. 

“And I got your toothbrush,” Aradia said, mutually revealing a green toothbrush. Nepeta’s face fell.

Next were Terezi and Feferi. They repeated the process demonstrated by Nepeta and Aradia, but this time, when they collided, their sides brushed each other much more lightly. 

Terezi took Feferi’s bug spray, and she in turn lifted Terezi’s deodorant. 

Vriska and Jane followed them. (“Look at that! They barely touched!” Meenah narrated as their hands grazed each other in passing). 

“I got your watch,” Jane taunted.

“Well, I got your cell phone!” Vriska cackled. 

“You aren’t even supposed to have that!” Meenah said, snatching the phone from Vriska’s hands and waggling a finger at Jane. “And for our final round!”

Kanaya took a step forward and met eyes with Rose. They grinned, challenging each other. 

When they walked past each other, they didn’t touch at all. 

Kanaya’s heart raced as she turned to present her item. “I’ve got a love letter from your boyfriend,” she said triumphantly, dangling a sheet of paper. 

Rose raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really?” she said smoothly. “Well, I stole your underwear.” She presented a pair of panties with a flourish, and the crowd (mostly younger campers) loved it.

The girls all bowed and went back up to their seats. “You’ll probably want this back,” Kanaya said to Rose on their way. She grinned and passed her opponent the “love letter”.

“Please,” Rose said loftily. “It couldn’t be mine. As if I’d ever want a boyfriend.”

“As if I’d ever let you into my pants,” Kanaya countered. 

There was a moment of silence. A smirk spread across Rose’s face as the words sank in. Kanaya clapped her hands over her mouth, blushing furiously. But she held eye contact, staring Rose down until a pink tinge appeared on her cheeks as well.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Rose said, looking down. She seemed a little less cocky now, and her cheeks grew pinker as Kanaya didn’t look away. 

This time, she sat down next to Kanaya. They watched the rest of the skits happily, glancing at each other and looking away every few moments. 

Kanaya felt different somehow. She had done something different. What she had said. Could it… Could that be considered flirting?

Oh, screw taking control of her heart. It turns out, she just needed to take control of her behavior.

If this was what flirting felt like, she liked it. She liked it a lot.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another lovely chapter written by the lovely veiku!! Send them some positive vibes guys they're so great <3  
> -rosesandrecords

“Psst! Egbert, get up!”

John was roused from his sleep by these words paired with a sharp jab to his ribs. He rolled away from the source of the noise and threw his arm out to deflect any more poking fingers.

“No, whoever the fuck you are, I’m having a really nice dream—”

The same voice interrupted him, dripping with sarcasm. “Oh, let me guess… some kind of hot, sweaty, probably over-dramatic fantasy about me? That’s so scandalous of you, John.”

John’s eyes snapped open and the fog cleared from his mind as he recognized who was talking. His head shot straight up before he remembered that he was sleeping in the top bunk of a bed located in a very low-ceilinged cabin, resulting in a loud _bang!_ and an almost instant headache as the top of his skull connected with the hard rafters.

“No, Dave what—” he coughed, trying to remove the grogginess from his voice. “uh… no, I… what are you even—”

John broke off as he realized that his stuttering was getting him nowhere (and also partially because he didn’t want to give away that the dream actually <em>had</em> included Dave, and the closest thing to what kissing felt like as John could imagine).

“Why are you waking me up, anyways? Where’s everybody else?” John asked after clearing his throat a few times and pushing his glasses onto his nose.

Still shaking the subject of his dream out of his mind, John glanced down to see Dave fully dressed in black skinny jeans and a baseball shirt with the same design of a scratched record his shirts on the previous day's had displayed. It was stretched a little tightly over his shoulders, showing just the smallest sliver of Dave’s clavicle. John let out a small sigh and turned away before he could let his thoughts wander again.

“Funny story actually—” Dave replied like he hadn’t just been asking John if he had been having a homoerotic fantasy that involved him.

“I’ve been able to piece together what happened through the angry mutterings of I-Can’t-Handle-A-Fucking-Joke Vantas and the little tidbits Jake overheard through the cabin walls while he was up on Dirk’s bunk at five o’clock in the morning sinning up a goddamn storm— he’s been telling everyone that he was just up early reading some stupid adventure book but I don’t know how anyone would believe that shit when there’s a bruise forming on his neck that’s the size of a fucking golf ball—”

Dave cut himself off, running his hand through his hair in a way that made John turn away to hide the blush that came from imagining _his_ hands there instead.

“Anyways, back on the topic that isn’t gay teen romance, all of the counselor’s cabin signs besides Kankri’s have been stolen from The Medium, and according to the news relayed to us from Rufioh, the signs from the Incipisphere are gone, too.”

John clambered down the rickety wooden ladder that connected his bed to the ground, stretching and yawning in the process.

“What does that mean, then?”

“Well basically the counselor’s signs are a big-shot fuckin’ deal around here because they symbolize becoming a full-fledged counselor… or something. I’ve never really bothered to pay attention when Kankri talks about it.”

John found himself watching as Dave pushed his hand up through his hair again, and he was tempted to make a jab at him about how he seemed to care about it more than the story he was telling.

“Jake ended up waking Mituna up after he had caught a glimpse of Latula and her girls sneaking their way back up the trail to the lake, and from there they came to the conclusion that the girls had taken the signs and were probably planning to do something shitty with them.

“I was ever-so-rudely shaken from my dreams in which I was totally annihilating Eminem— not how he is now, more like how he was from early 2004 before he went on hiatus and then got really goddamn lame— in one of the raddest rap battles ever to be recorded in human history—” his hand found itself adjusting his fringe for a third time.

“By, uh, Kankri’s usual enraged screaming. ‘What type of inconsiderate person whatever the fuck! When I found out who did this blah fucking blah! I’m such a tight-ass and I’m probably just jealous that they didn’t steal my ugly sign like they did with all the others and I feel left out and whatever else I can find it within me to get butthurt over!’” John let out a loud snort at this.

The way that Dave changed his nonchalant, monotone voice into a very sarcastic-sounding imitation of Kankri’s high jabber and how his lips curved up slightly as he did it made John smile. It was almost as good as Karkat’s enthusiastic impersonation at the campfire the night before.

Dave had pitched up his voice when imitating the uptight counselor, but his usual tone was pleasant, with the slightest trace of a southern drawl. He had obviously acquired a northern accent over time, but occasionally a drawn-out vowel or two would slip out. It was quite charming. John wondered where Dave was originally from.

He quieted his inner monologue as it started to drift back into fantasizing things that had to do with Dave’s voice and cleared his throat for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

“So, like, has anyone gone out to see where the girls are or anything?”

“I’m pretty sure Horuss’ group forfeited their chances of showering so they could go get the signs back. We’ll know if the girls actually did throw them into the lake or not probably by breakfast.”

Dave then took a step forward to where his suitcase was located underneath his bunk and began scavenging through it.

“But I didn’t just come in here to wake you up because of that. You’re making us late for the shower house and everyone's pissed, so you better get your shit together quick,” he said as he pulled out a bag filled with toiletries from underneath a messy stack of clothes.

“You couldn't have told me that first?” John grumbled. He did as he was told and gathered his showering supplies, making sure to shove an extra pair of jeans, a shirt, and some underwear into his bag with it. He followed Dave out of the cabin (trying and failing to not look at his butt), and closed the door behind him.

The boys’ shower house wasn’t the nicest of places, though John had heard the girls’ was worse. The floors were slick with water, dirt, and slime, making flip flops a necessity. John kept a firm grip on his clothes and towel, making sure they were secure on the bench before he got into the shower.

John and most of the other boys had already been done washing for around 3 minutes before he finally heard the noise of Dave’s shower cut off.

“This shitty water pressure is totally ruining my hair… Oh, what the fuck?” Dave said under his breath as he opened the curtain and stepped out of the shower stall next to John’s, the only thing covering his body being a worn-out towel wrapped around his hips. His sandals squelched on the damp floor as he bent down to pick up a crumpled article of clothing piled at his feet.

Pinching it between his thumb and forefinger, he gave it a once-over to confirm what it was. John could tell from his seat on the bench next to Dave that it was the shirt he had been seen wearing when he woke John up, albeit now it was dripping with bacteria-filled floor water and grime.

“Must’ve fallen when I took out the towel…” Dave muttered to himself, not noticing that John was listening in. He tossed the shirt so it landed in a sopping heap on top of his shower bag. A few moments later, he cursed audibly as it dawned on him: “What the fuck am I supposed to wear now?”

John hadn’t realized he hadn’t been breathing until he broke out of his stupor (“stupor” being a very loose term, he had actually just been staring at Dave’s bare chest like a deer caught in headlights). He coughed to grab Dave’s attention.

“I couldn’t help but, um…” he hurriedly shuffled through the plastic bag his clothes were stored in, pulling out the shirt that he had been planning to change into. “Overhear… and see that you’re kind of having a fashion emergency.” He nodded towards the wadded-up shirt. Dave let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, you could say that.”

John continued. “And, like, I figured that since I still have my sleeping shirt in here, you could use my other shirt I brought that I was going to wear today. It might be a little small on you, but…” He held the white t-shirt out to the other boy, trying to avoid looking at that sweet, pale, and actually kind of chiseled (god damn it, John, stop thinking like that!) chest that was almost close enough to touch. “Sorry, but I don’t really think you have any other options.”

Dave snatched the piece of clothing from his hands almost before John got his last words out.

“Fuck, man, I’m so grateful for you saving my ass just now that I might even kiss you.”

“W-wait, really?” John sputtered out before he could stop himself. He could feel warmth spreading rapidly to the tops of his ears as he clamped a hand over his mouth.

Dave’s smirk was concealed as he pulled the shirt over his head and down across his torso. It looked almost uncomfortably tight around his shoulders, but John wasn’t complaining.

After all the boys had finished cleaning themselves as best they could with the subpar showers and had gotten dressed, the boys began the trek back to their cabins so they could drop off their bags.

John thought that Dave would’ve just grabbed another clean shirt from his suitcase before they left again, but he ignored the large pile of clean shirts he still had in his suitcase as he threw his shower supplies back into it.

They then headed to their first activity of the day which, Dave said was going to be cooking. John was ashamed to admit to himself that he didn’t know if Dave had meant they would be cooking food or if he had been using some new slang to describe that it would be really great. It made him feel like an old man when he had to run up to Kankri and ask him what their activity was going to be, and then like a stupid old man because Kankri confirmed that cooking was indeed what they were going to be doing.

Not much could be considered eventful during their first activity, excluding the time that Tavros got too close to the stone oven and almost ended up setting his fauxhawk on fire. He was then immediately banned from using any type of heating tool by the cook, Ms. Handmaid. Also, Mituna informed them that the cabin signs had been tossed into the lake by the girls and were in the process of being rescued.

Afterwards they all headed out to the field where they were going to be doing team building activities.

There were three bags of circular connectors and plastic tubes of varying sizes sitting on the ground when they arrived. Mituna gathered the boys together and explained that they would be working in teams to build the tallest tower they could without it falling over. John thought their directions were straightforward enough, so he settled in with the other boys and began building soon enough.

A few minutes into the process, John reached down to grab a connector so he could attach a supporting tube to the middle. It happened in a split second. As soon as John had extended his arm, Dave had backed up to look at the tower, causing John’s fingers to close around soft flesh instead of the tool he needed.

It took him a moment to realize that his hand was, in fact, grasping the left side of Dave’s ass.

“Why don’t you give it a squeeze, too, while you’re at it?” The smirk was audible in Dave’s voice.

John retracted his hand as fast as he could.

“No, oh my god, no! What?! I’m so sorry, that was an accident!”

“Didn’t seem accidental to me. You had a death grip on it,” Dave turned his head and raised his eyebrows at John.

“Anyways, the next time you want to grab my ass, why don’t you do it properly and warn me first?” Dave continued, still smirking as he bent down to grab the connector that John had needed in the first place. He tossed it to John, who barely reacted fast enough to catch it.

After they had successfully made an 8 foot (“and one quarter!” Mituna had exclaimed proudly upon measuring) tower they moved on to doing trust falls.

John was paired up with Sollux first, and when he threw himself backwards into the boy’s arms, he almost toppled them both over. Turns out Sollux was weaker than he thought.

Next came the quiet one named Gamzee, who was light enough that John could’ve probably picked him up and thrown him into the lake. John thought that it would be a similar situation to the one that occurred with Sollux, so he tried to fall back as gently as possible. But Gamzee caught him with a grip so tight and strong that he had to check his arms for bruises afterwards.

When they rotated partners again, John slowly trudged his way over to where Dave was standing. They hadn’t exchanged words since John’s hand had gotten to second base on accident, and he still thought that Dave was mad at him.

Dave insisted that John go first, and John had no reason to argue. They lined themselves up and John let himself fall backwards.

But instead of feeling Dave’s arms loop themselves underneath his, his hands on John’s back where they were meant to be, Dave grabbed onto John a bit… lower.

Both of Dave’s hands had a firm hold on John’s butt, and John didn’t know how to react.

Before he had the chance to, Dave spoke.

“Oops…. Sorry. That was an accident, John. I didn’t mean it.” John glanced up from where his head was resting on Dave’s chest to see that he was smirking yet again.

“Are you sure, Dave? I could’ve sworn that you just squeezed my ass entirely on purpose,” he joked in a voice that was shaky and weak.

Neither of them moved for a few moments more, not knowing who should break away first. It was beginning to grow awkward (more awkward than it had been, at least) so John decided to push himself back up onto his feet.

Glancing around to make sure nobody was looking, he turned towards Dave and stared him straight in the eyes. Before he could help it, he was speaking.

“Strider, what exactly are your intentions? That grab felt like a little more than standard bro-on-bro ass groping.” He tried to keep his voice even. It wasn’t working.

He could see that he had caught Dave off guard, because that stupid, irresistibly cocky smirk had been wiped right off his face.

Dave was about to reply when Kankri blew his whistle and yelled “Switch!” He turned and walked away without giving him a second glance.

 

***

 

If team building had been awkward, John didn't know what the hell to call the space between himself and Dave now. They had been placed in the same canoe for boating, and so far the only noise between them had been the quiet splashing of their paddles.

The other campers were causing quite a ruckus from the center of the lake, streaking back and forth in races and occasionally hitting each other. John looked over at them, wondering if it would clear the air between him and Dave if they joined.

“Hey, Dave?”

The blonde raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“Do you wanna?…” John motioned over to the source of commotion.

Dave shrugged. “If you do. I don't really care.”

John set down his paddle.

“Look, I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I was joking. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. And it really was an accident that first time.”

Dave snorted. “I know you were joking, Egbert. You're not the type for genuine, heartfelt groping sessions.”

John sighed. “Okay. I don't know what I did wrong, but can we please just go back to being friends?”

Dave turned his head. “Yeah. Sure. That’s exactly what we’ll do.”

John decided to ignore Dave’s tone and treat it as an invitation to be friendly. “Okay! Let’s go join the others. If this boat can handle it.” He giggled and sunk his paddle back into the water, directing the canoe to face into the middle of the lake.

As he paddled forward Dave joined in, speeding up their process. As they grew closer they heard a loud scream.

“Oh my GOD, you're going to PAY for that, asshole!”

A shouting match was quickly escalating between Eridan and Vriska, their boats pointed aggressively towards each other.

“It's your own damn fault if you can't watch where you're going!”

“You watch where you’re going, fish-face!”

“Listen, Vris, I know you want a piece of this hot bod, but you'll have to control yoursー”

“Oh, you're a DEAD little fish-face.”

Vriska plunged her paddle into the water, swinging her boat into a hard collision with Eridan’s.

“What the hell? You're going to tip my boat! That isn't allowed!”

Vriska sneered. “Don't be a whiny bitch. Hitting somebody in the head with a paddle isn't allowed either, last time I checked!”

“This won't end well,” John said worriedly to Dave. “Do you think we should do something?”

Dave shook his head. “Nah, they fight like this all the time. Let them get it out.” He seemed to be enjoying himself again, to John’s relief.

His relief quickly turned to concern once more when Vriska stretched out her hands and gave Eridan’s boat a strong shove. He grabbed her hands and tried to push them off, but her grip was firm. She rocked his boat back and forth, shaking it more violently each time. Eridan quickly grabbed onto her boat too, the force of her rocking shaking her own canoe as well as his.

“Oh, shit,” John and Dave said in unison.

Vriska and Eridan shrieked as the inevitable came to them and their boats gave in, tipping them both into the lake’s green water. Their hands appeared over the sides of the flipped canoes, and they came up gasping, soaked, and still snapping at one another.

“You _would_ take it that far. Bitch.”

“I’ll get you back for this!”

“Get _me_ back?”

Nobody made a move to help them out of the water. John looked at Dave and couldn’t help but giggle. A smile slowly spread across the other boy’s face.

“Are they seriously always like this?” John asked.

Dave nodded. “They fight constantly. They never really get physical with it, though, which is weird. There’s just major passive aggression and a fair amount of some kind of tension, be it romantic or sexual or whatever the fuck it is between them.”

“Throwing each other into a lake isn't physical?” John muttered.

Dave considered this. “Well, there’s never any blows at least. This is a new development. Usually it’s just volleys of ‘your mother is a whore’ and ‘a dead fish smells better than you do.’”

John looked at the two, now helplessly holding onto their canoes and looking at each other with hostility, and giggled again.

A dead fish…

He snapped his head back towards Dave. “Dude! I just had the best idea!”

Dave sat back. “Let’s hear it.”

“What if, for a prank, we took a dead fish and put it in the girls’ cabins? To make it smell nasty and stuff?” John said excitedly. Dave nodded slowly.

“You know, I’d be reluctant to let you come up with our prank scheme again… If that weren’t actually a pretty good idea.”

John grinned. “Let’s go tell the counselors about it!”

He glanced at Eridan and Vriska floundering in the lake.

“And maybe get them some help too.”

 

***

 

         John felt like he was witnessing a drug deal. Tavros had sidled up to where he and Dave were sitting, interrupting Dave’s avid speech about his hatred for puppets. Cupping his hand around his mouth, Tavros had whispered in Dave’s ear, passing him information that John barely heard over the loud chatter of the mess hall.

“Mituna got the fish.”

“Yeah, okay, cool, but it’s not on him, right? He’s been in plain sight ever since lunch started.” Dave gestured across the room, pointing to where Mituna was leaning against the wall with Latula.

“According to Sol he, uh, handed it off to Rufioh and Rufioh, um, made up some excuse that he had a headache so he could run it back to the cabin without anyone getting suspicious.”

Dave set the pb&j in his hand back on the Styrofoam plate in front of him as he turned to look straight at Tavros.

“Okay, but where did he put it? Like, if he hid it in our cabin and it ends up making all of my possessions smell like rotten death, I’ll start kicking ass without taking names. If my underwear smell like anything besides cotton goddamn freshness, you should be prepared to face my wrath.” He jabbed his pointer finger into John’s face, directing the last statement at him.

“We all gave you another chance with this prank shit because you came up with a good idea, but if it backfires like the last one did, your ass is mine.”

“From what I know, he put it behind the bushes next to Mituna’s cabin,” Tavros spoke over John’s sudden outburst of coughing that had resulted from Dave’s previous statement.

 

***

 

That night, as opposed to going to dinner, the boys were cooking their own food in a small campfire. It provided them with the perfect opportunity to prank the girls while they were away at the mess hall.

Rufioh had hidden a small pile of fish, caught fresh from the lake by the counselors, behind Mituna’s cabin. There they sat in the direct sunlight, growing more putrid with every passing hour. When John caught a whiff of the pile, he had to go stand away from the group with his shirt over his nose for a few minutes to clear out the scent.

“This seems like some kinda motherfuckin’ cruel and unusual punishment,” Gamzee observed. “Y’all sure about goin’ through with this?”

Eridan clenched his teeth. His hair still dripped from his little swim, leaving a trail of wetness on the ground wherever he went. Something in the lake water had reacted with his hair dye, turning the royal purple into a faded yellowish pink. “Of course we’re fuckin’ doing it. They deserve far worse in my opinion.”

The duty of carrying the fish was left to Mituna, who employed Tavros to help him. They were forced to walk ahead of the group, keeping the scent of dead fish far from the group of chattering boys.

“We should put it right in Vriska’s bed.”

“No, Nepeta’s! She hits too hard!”

“Whatever we do, we’ve gotta let them know of our mighty pranking conquest.”

“They're gonna lose this battle so freaking hard.”

The fish ended up being placed not in bunks, at Rufioh’s mercy, but in the center of the cabins. There they could spread their aroma without bringing a specific girl too much misfortune. Each was accompanied with a note, giving love from the boys’ cabins.

Dave patted John on the back as they left Fruity Rumpus, letting his hand rest on John’s shoulder.

“That wasn't a half bad prank, Egbert. Maybe someday you’ll be able to call yourself the true pranking master.”

John raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me, I think I already deserve that title.”

Dave laughed. “You could have a lot of titles now, but not quite that one.”

John drew back, insulted. “What kind of titles? I assume you’re going to say something derogatory, so don’t even say it.”

“Not necessarily. You’re definitely the biggest nerd in camp. Whether you choose to see that as an insult or a compliment to your adorable-ness is your own decision.”

John flushed. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Dave let his hand drop down to quickly grab John’s ass.

“Figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question. I've got a couple rosemary aus going right now and I'm considering starting another, though it may slow down updates for the ones I already have. Thoughts? Also, thoughts on a possible upcoming johndave au and rosemary holiday oneshot?  
>  -rosesandrecords


	5. Chapter 5

Kanaya had become accustomed enough to Latula’s alarm clock that she knew to get up immediately once her eyes snapped open.

Her Thursday morning began with an unfortunately loud wake-up call and the lingering stench of rotten fish. The night before, the boys had taken revenge for the disrespect of their cabin signs. The girls had complained, wrinkled their noses, and silently began to plot retaliation.

But no good plans had been made yet, and besides, there was more to camp than just pranks. Never was there a shortage of new things to do-- this much was clear when the counselors of Fruity Rumpus Partytown woke their campers nearly an hour earlier than normal. 

“It's time for the polar bear swim!” Meenah said cheerily. The only one who failed to let out a loud groan was Feferi.

The polar bear swim was an annual event which celebrated the pain of children. (Not really, of course. Everyone just had to get up early and swim in the cold morning water).

“Can't we stay in bed?” Nepeta said weakly.

“No, the water’s warm. It’ll be great,” Latula shushed her. There would be no dissent in this partytown.

“The water’s warm, they say,” grumbled Vriska. “Every time. Guess what's never warm.”

“You can back out if you want to be a lame baby!” Feferi said, already pulling on her swimsuit. Latula nodded approvingly.

“That's the spirit. Everybody get your suit and towel! We’ll come back before breakfast to change, ‘aight?”

Everyone reluctantly obeyed.

As it turned out, Vriska’s prediction of the water temperature had been correct. Not only was it distinctly not warm, it was like wading into a just-melted glacier. 

“I just want to be in my bed,” Nepeta whimpered. “So lovely and dry…”

“Pretend you’re a polar bear or something,” Kanaya urged her. “Don't focus on the cold.”

“Oh, it’s not _that_ bad,” Meenah snorted from onshore. 

“You aren’t the one in the water!” Vriska snapped, hugging her arms.”I’d like to see you hop in and say that!”

Meenah removed her glasses and set them on the ground next to her. 

“No problemo, homegirl!”

And with that, she took a running start at the lake and jumped straight in, clothes and all. Callie and Roxy shrieked as the resulting splash washed over them. 

Meenah surfaced, shaking out her hair. “Dang! That’s a shock. But I stand my case.” She smirked at Vriska. “It ain’t that bad, girl.”

Vriska rolled her eyes.

Kanaya was wondering what she had ever seen in Vriska when Rose made her way over.

Ah, Rose. The object of Kanaya’s most coveted affections. She still made Kanaya quite nervous, but the girl was beginning to hold her own in their daily banter. She was also beginning to believe that maybe, just maybe, Rose might be interested in her. 

“Porrim said we have something called ‘campwide’ later on. What’s that?” she said, letting her hand rest on Kanaya’s shoulder. 

Kanaya nodded, though the nod was indistinguishable from her shivers of cold. “Yes, we should have that today. It’s sort of like a field day. There are races and puzzles and things, the whole camp participates. I think we have girls’ night tonight as well, but I’ll have to ask Latula about that.”

“And what is that?”

“Well, our side of the lake has girls’ night, and the boys have boys’ night. How they celebrate is unique to each cabinsite. But every week of camp one site gets to go to the Circle of Horrorterrors… I really hope that’s us.”

Rose’s eyes gleamed. “Circle of Horrorterrors, you say? I’m intrigued.”

“You might have to hold my hand if I get too scared,” Kanaya suggested. “It gets pretty intense out there.”

“What a tragedy that would be. I’d hate to have to embrace a stunning girl in her fright,” Rose said just as casually. “But what do you mean by intense?”

Kanaya shrugged. “Well, nobody really knows where it is, except the counselors. They blindfold you when you go. It’s somewhere deep in the forest, though. You have a fire and tell scary stories, and if you’re lucky, you catch a glimpse of the Horrorterrors it’s named for.”

Rose wrapped her arms around Kanaya in mock fear. “Goodness. I’m getting scared just thinking about it.”

Kanaya found the frigid waters much easier to bear with Rose to cling onto. 

When it was time to go back to the cabins, Nepeta leaped out of the water as if bouncing off a trampoline. The force of her ejection nearly propelled her into the cubbies where their towels were stuffed. The towels were quickly removed, to much quiet cussing, as the campers realized how much colder the air was now they had gotten used to icy water. 

Kanaya found it difficult to shake the chills, and still shivered through breakfast. She only began to warm up in the middle of their first activity. 

There had been a collective moan when they realized it would be fishing. 

“It’s too soon,” Jade complained. “I can’t look at a fish after last night, much less _smell_ one.”

But, to their good fortune, it seemed like they wouldn’t have much luck in catching fish. The worms they dipped into the water remained uneaten. Kanaya was able to sit blissfully in the warm sun, lazily paddling her canoe, without paying much attention to the fishing pole sticking out in front of her. 

“Do you think if we caught a fish we could stick it in the boys’ cabins?” Kanaya heard Terezi ask from a nearby canoe.

“Nah, that would be re-using an idea. We can’t do that,” Nepeta’s voice answered. “We’ve got to get something good in today, though. Thursday is always the deciding day. Friday doesn’t count beclaws you just leave in the afternoon and you don’t have to fully bear the weight of the prank pulled on you. But on Thursday you can get someone good and then they can’t ever get you back until next summer!”

“Did any of the ideas last night sound good?”

Kanaya watched Nepeta shake her head. “Some had promise, but we need something to really hit home our victory.”

Kanaya was in a boat by herself today. Since she was one of the more experienced campers, the counselors had let her take a solo canoe while they managed the newbies. She had gotten an unfortunate glimpse of fishing lines tangled in necklaces before she even got off shore, and thought she was rather glad to be alone.

She didn’t mean to eavesdrop on anyone, but sound carried very well across the lake. She could hear practically everyone. And besides, it was relaxing to just float around and listen.

Sollux’s voice cut through the air. “But the beds are so fucking narrow! Like, how the fuck do you manage that? You can’t have two people in one of those things. You just can't. You won't fit.”

“They wouldn’t need to be side by side,” Karkat pointed out.

“Oh, lord. They wouldn’t actually do that at camp, though, right?”

“Have you _met_ Dirk Strider?”

“You rea-- oh fuck, you’ve got a bite!”

There was a loud splashing noise and an outburst of cursing as Karkat flailed with his fishing pole. Kanaya giggled. 

She had stayed in the boys’ cabins a couple of years ago. That summer, for some reason, the different sides of the lake had switched places. What had previously been the boys’ cabins became the girls’, and vice versa. Sollux was right about the beds being narrow. Kanaya remembered Aranea once telling her a story about how those cabins had been built first, and not in the smartest of ways. Apparently the designer hadn’t considered assembling the bunks _inside_ the cabin, so that they could be the size of a reasonable bed, and had just made them narrower so they would fit through the doors. 

The image of a man shoving an entire bunk bed into a cabin made Kanaya giggle again. 

Terezi and Nepeta’s canoe had drifted slowly closer to Kanaya’s in the breeze, and Nepeta looked at her strangely. “What are you laughing about?”

Kanaya shrugged. “The boys’ cabins are built weird. The doors are super wide and the beds are really skinny, so when they made the cabins they just brought them in. It’s funny to me.”

Nepeta’s jaw dropped. Her eyes snapped to Terezi. 

Terezi stared blindly into space. “You’re looking at me, aren’t you.”

“You’re a genius!” Nepeta burst out, looking back at Kanaya. “That can be our last prank! We can take the beds out of their fucking cabin! Oh my god, they’ll _never_ live that down…”

Kanaya shook her head in amusement. “I’m hardly a genius. You’re the one who drew that conclusion out of what I said.”

“I need to tell Meenah about this _right now!_ ” Nepeta dug her oar into the water, paddling furiously towards the counselors. Her fishing line dragged behind her. 

Kanaya watched as she and Terezi made their way across the lake to where the counselors (and newbies) floated. She could just barely make out Meenah giving Nepeta a high five, and smiled. 

***

Mr. Summoner, the nature director and host of the fantastic campfire a few nights back, was, all in all, a very chill dude. He let them plan their ultimate prank during the nature hike, only interrupting once or twice to point out poison ivy. 

“All right… I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but we’re supposed to go to the Circle of Horrorterrors tonight,” Porrim admitted. “Does anyone think we should use that time for our prank, instead?”

Meenah shrugged. “The guys are really predictable. For their free time they’ll go to the Circle, or maybe our cabins, to try and get us. They’ll be gone, so we can take advantage. I say we go for it.”

“I’ve been a million times anyway. I’m in,” said Vriska.

“It could take a while, so we’ll need the time,” Jade piped up. “But where are we going to put the beds?”

“In the middle of the forest, duh,” Nepeta said. 

“How about we leave a few people at our cabins as a guard?” Rose suggested. “That way, if they come, they’ll think we’re having girls’ night to ourselves for once.”

“But what if they see the people and head back to their own cabins before the rest of us are done?” Roxy interjected. “It’s a good idea, but…”

Jane had been quiet up to this point. “Latula, don’t you have spray paint in your cabin?”

Everyone stared at her.

Nepeta laughed evilly. “They’ll talk about this for years.”

She marched triumphantly ahead of the group. “We! Are the QUEENS! Of CAMP!” she shouted. 

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t get ahead!” Mr. Summoner said, alarmed. “Poison ivy, people!”

***

The girls and boys shared their next activity, which was art. The girls had a hard time keeping their plans a secret when they couldn't stop laughing about it. Mr. Highblood demanded they tell him what was so funny, and it only made them giggle more. The boys watched their every move with suspicion. 

“Oh, shit!” Vriska stopped dead in front of the supply cabinet. “I forgot the bracelet I was working on at the cabin!”

Meenah sighed deeply. “Let me guess. you want to go get it?”

Vriska sidled up to her. “Pretty please?”

“Okay, I’ll go with you. You know I can't resist that devil face of yours.” Meenah pursed her lips. “Let's get going so we can make it back before the activity ends, shall we?”

Vriska nodded, dragging Meenah out of the barn where art was held and towards Fruity Rumpus.

Kanaya barely noticed their absence. She was busy pulling out the candles she had been working on their previous art class. Before she left she had laid them out carefully to dry, and they had come out very nicely. She was admiring them and planning her next project when Rose spoke.

She was asking Latula a question. “I forgot my project, too. Do you think I could go after Vriska and Meenah?”

Latula nodded wearily. “Yep, just take a buddy.” Rose locked eyes with Kanaya.

“If you would accompany me?” she asked.

Kanaya nodded. Rose took her by the hand and led her out of the art barn.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, Rose, like usual, finding every excuse to put her hands on Kanaya (who enjoyed it very much). 

They reached the mouth of the cabin site when Rose stopped.

“Kanaya, I need to tell you something.”

Kanaya looked back, retracing her steps to join Rose where she stood. “Yes?”

A smile slowly spread across Rose’s face. “I didn't actually forget my project.”

Kanaya huffed. “You mean we walked all the way here for nothing? I could be working on a coconut bead by now!”

“Not for nothing.” Rose seemed almost… nervous. As nervous as Kanaya on the first day of camp. When Kanaya looked at her more closely, her cheeks were flushed, and she wouldn't make eye contact. Her voice had the sound of someone whose heart was in their throat.

“I have to tell you something else,” she managed. Kanaya took a step closer.

“It had better be a good excuse for leading me all the way out here.” 

“Oh, it is,” Rose laughed. She glanced at Kanaya for a second, then looked away.

“Rose, are you alright?” Kanaya said, concerned. 

“Yes, I’m fine. I just brought you out here so I could…”

Kanaya felt her pulse quicken.

Rose placed her hands on Kanaya’s waist. This, Kanaya thought, was the closest they had ever been. She could practically count Rose’s long eyelashes.

“I like you,” Rose said, her voice finally steady. “As more than a friend, I mean. I’m sorry if this is sudden. I can only hope you feel the same way.”

Kanaya’s eyes opened wide. Could this be a dream?

She had to say something. Her voice caught in her throat, she wanted to tell Rose everything she had thought over the course of the week, she wanted to tell her all the feelings she had pounding in her heart. She eventually was able to say; “It isn't _obvious_? Yes!”

Rose laughed. “Well… It was, a bit. But you never really know.”

“I couldn't be sure you liked me, either,” Kanaya whispered. “Or I would have said something sooner.”

Rose tightened her grip on Kanaya’s waist, so their faces almost touched. “Why don't you make sure, then?”

Kanaya’s heart was beating so hard she was afraid Rose must be able to hear it. This was the part where she leaned in, she knew. She wanted to _so badly_. But something kept her stuck in place. 

“Nervous?” Rose murmured. Kanaya nodded helplessly.

“Same. But I think I can lend you a hand.”

Kanaya took a breath, closing her eyes. She felt Rose’s lips connect with hers. 

Kanaya had never kissed anyone before. It was different than she had expected, but not in a bad way. Far from a bad way. It just felt so… real. Rose’s lips were soft and pleasant, pressing into hers. They gently closed as Kanaya’s opened, the two of them working out a rhythm, holding each other close.

Kanaya was so absorbed in the spectacular tingle of their lips meeting that it took her a minute to remember that she had hands, and they could, in fact, be used. She slid them up Rose’s back, and Rose responded, . With one hand she ran her fingers through the girl’s blonde hair. 

Rose broke away for a split second to catch her breath. “You're awfully good at this.”

“Then why stop?” Kanaya asked.

Rose quickly kissed her once more. “You do realize Vriska and Meenah could walk out of the cabin at any second.” 

“Oh, yeah.” For some reason, Kanaya couldn't find it within herself to care. But… “We should probably go in and look for your project. So they don't think we were faking.”

“Good idea,” Rose agreed. She followed Kanaya over to the entrance of Meenah’s cabin. The door was slightly ajar, from Vriska’s entrance, Kanaya assumed.

She stepped inside, expecting to find Vriska and Meenah searching for the former’s bracelet.

What Kanaya did _not_ expect to see was Vriska and Meenah in the exact position she and Rose had been in mere seconds ago. 

Meenah was pushed up against a bedpost, Vriska’s hands in her hair as they kissed. Vriska’s eyes were closed, Meenah’s half-open as she curled her fingers into a fist on Vriska’s back. At the sight of Kanaya, the bright pink of her cheeks instantly drained into white.

She shoved Vriska off away, staring in shock and Kanaya and Rose. 

There was a long silence.

“You didn't have to push me,” Vriska said finally.

“Girls, I can explain,” Meenah said quickly. 

Vriska rolled her eyes. “There isn't much to explain, they kind of just saw us making out.” 

Meenah rubbed her eyes underneath her glasses. “Ohhh, fuck. I’m gonna get fired. I’m so fucking fired.”

Vriska snorted. “Your mom is the head of camp. She’s not gonna fire you.”

“You don't know my mother!” Meenah snapped. “The number one danger parents worry about most at summer camp is counselor abuse.” 

“It's not abuse if we both wanted it!”

“Do you think anybody’s going to care if you wanted it or not? I’m eighteen! You’re _fourteen_! We never should have been in this situation at all. I never should've agreed to this.”

“If you didn't like me, you shouldn't have kissed me,” Vriska said angrily. 

“I'm not saying I don't like you. I'm saying I was a fucking idiot to act on it. You’re underage. Forget fired, if anybody finds out about this, I’m gonna get arrested.” Meenah turned to Kanaya. 

“I'm sorry you had to see that,” she said quietly. “And I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone.”

Kanaya was lost for words. How exactly were you supposed to react to something like this? Meenah was a great counselor, but that didn't stop what she had just witnessed from being questionable in terms of legality.

Her silence seemed to worry Meenah. “I realize that I just made a real fuckin’ big mistake. But it won’t ever happen again,” she insisted. 

“We won't tell if you tell yourself,” Rose answered. She looked Meenah steadily in the eye. “We won't go spreading it around so everyone knows. But someone has to.” 

Meenah’s confident demeanor seemed to wither. “Yeah. Okay. That's fair. I… God.” She sighed. “I'm sorry,” she said, not looking at Vriska.

Vriska bristled. “You didn't do anything wrong!” Meenah stepped towards the door, and Vriska caught hold of her hand. “Hey, wait, what are you doing? You can't just leave!”

“Yes, I can, and I am.” 

Meenah left the door open behind her, presumably heading for the main lodge. Kanaya stared as she walked off. 

“Thanks a fucking lot,” Vriska said furiously. “I've waited three years for that! Why the hell are you even here, anyway?”

Rose cut her off. “It doesn't matter. Let's go back to art.”

Kanaya had never been on the receiving end of a glare like the one Vriska gave her.

On the way back to art, there was silence. Kanaya considered speaking, but decided against it. There was enough hostility in the air. She didn't need to start a real fight.

Latula raised an eyebrow when the three of them showed up without their counselor. 

“Where's--

“Later,” Kanaya muttered. Latula looked confused, but didn't press the issue.

*** 

It certainly put a bit of a damper on the rest of the day to have Meenah absent. The activities weren't the same without her raucous contributions and comments. The campers all complained when she didn't show up again by campwide.

“Where is she?”

“I wanted her to be a cheerleader!”

“What happens if her cabin wins and she isn't there?”

Kanaya tried to distract herself with the field games, but nothing seemed to cheer her up. Not even the realization that she had _kissed Rose Lalonde_ put the dilemma out of her mind.

In one of the relay races, she was paired against John. He seemed buzzing with excitement for some reason other than camp spirit. 

“Kanaya!” he burst out. “Have you had any luck with,” he pointed his chin at Rose, “yet? Cause hoo boy, have I got news!” 

Kanaya smiled. “We shouldn't talk here, but, yes, I have. And you?”

John grinned widely. “I think Dave might like me,” he whispered. 

“Go on.”

Before they could continue their hushed conversation, the referee, Mituna, blew  
his whistle, and the race began. Kanaya charged ahead, laughing as John stumbled to a start. He raced to catch up, but Kanaya was already far in the lead.

She was in a better mood after that. Vriska shot her looks that could kill, but she was the last thing on Kanaya’s mind. Kanaya could worry about what she had seen later. Now, she had won a relay race, kissed a girl, and inspired a soon-to-be legendary prank. 

She did wonder what it would be like to visit the Circle of Horrorterrors, but executing the prank was an experience she would never give up.

The girls stole quietly away from their cabin site when their free time began. At first, they were blindfolded and led towards the Circle, to throw off suspicion. Once the counselors decreed them close enough, they ripped off the blindfolds and snuck in the direction of the boys’ cabins. 

There was a near miss when they were creeping into the Medium. They passed close by a group of boys, heading in the opposite direction. Latula gave a thumbs up. They were going to the Circle. But once they were there, they would realize the girls were missing, so they had to work quickly.

Lifting a bunk bed was no easy feat. It took three girls plus one of the counselors to get one up and out the door. It was a tight squeeze, but they all fit though. Carrying them into the forest wasn't nearly as easy. They abandoned their original plan of dragging them somewhere far away to be hidden, and just left them behind the cabin site. 

Latula pulled out a few cans of spray paint when the bunks were in position. “Who wants to do the honors?” she said solemnly. Every hand shot into the air.

Jane was the first to get her hands on a can. Shaking it vigorously, she left her mark on the post of one of the messier beds. “Welcome to the Rumpus.” 

Each girl took turns scrawling their derogatory message, putting effort into their words, though perhaps not much time. They made sure not to spray any actual blankets, but the wooden beds received quite a makeover. Everyone quickly sprayed something before they had to leave. The bunks were left decorated beautifully with messages of female superiority. 

“I can't believe Meenah’s missing this,” Terezi grumbled.

It was a good thing sound carried so well over the lake. The boys’ screams of outrage could be heard clear across to the other side, where the girls sat and laughed.

***

Later, Rose gave Kanaya a kiss goodnight at the water spigot before they retired to bed. It was only a stroke of luck, and wondering about the future of her relationship with Rose, that kept Kanaya awake until Meenah returned.

The voices of the other counselors tipped her off. 

“Where the hell have you been? You just disappeared!” Latula hissed. 

“I got your text, but you didn't say anything. Really, where have you been?” Porrim asked. 

Kanaya listened closely. Meenah sounded exhausted.

“It's a long story, and I ain't in the mood to tell it. I'll say tomorrow. For now I'll just tell you I risked my job, but I’m safe temporarily.”

So it seemed Meenah would be staying. Kanaya wondered what would happen to her once the week was over. She wondered what would happen to any of them when the week was over.

Kanaya would rejoin her schoolmates in September. Vriska would sulk, then go back to being her bitchy self. Maybe John and Dave would get together. Rose…

Kanaya had met her for the first time that very week. They didn't go to the same school. And the attendees of Camp Skaia came from a wide area… Did they even live near each other?

They said summer relationships never lasted. Kanaya hoped it wasn't true. She really liked Rose, and wanted what they had to continue. Could she call Rose her girlfriend now? Did one kiss qualify the term? She hoped it did. She hoped they could make it work. 

For now, she would focus on the present. She had one day left with Rose, and she had to make it count.

Tomorrow would be the best day at Camp Skaia Kanaya had ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left! Who's HYPE


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU THOUGHT THIS FIC WAS DEAD!!!!!!
> 
> BUT YOU WERE WRONG.

It was a shame that Friday was the last day of camp. John had finally gotten accustomed to the early rising, and the next day, he wouldn’t have to get up early at all.

A glance at the alarm clock on Kankri’s nightstand told John he had actually woken early. He looked around the cabin with half-lidded eyes. All the other boys were wrapped up in their sleeping bags. Someone was snoring, but he couldn’t tell who it was. 

If it was Dave, that would be super fucking adorable.

It would be another half hour before everyone else started to wake up. It wasn’t enough time for John to fall back asleep, but it was enough for him to go over the events of the previous day. 

There had been a fair amount of tension between him and Dave immediately after the whole ass-grabbing incident, but later on? It had skyrocketed. But over time it had shifted from an uncomfortable sensation to something else. It was like… waiting. Waiting for something to happen, and tentatively edging towards it.

John had doubted Dave’s likelihood of being gay before, but now, Dave had been making too many odd comments to be ignored. Too many subtle brushes of his fingers along John’s skin. When they had been brushing their teeth, Dave had “accidentally” grabbed John’s hand instead of his toothbrush, and John had bolted from the scene before he did something risky, like crashing into Dave and engaging in sloppy makeouts. 

But it was seeming less and less risky with every not-so-straight comment from Dave. John always had to leave room for skepticism, but if Dave wanted to flirt with him, hell if he was going to protest! 

Whoever it was with the nasal blockage kept snoring. 

John didn’t think it sounded like Dave. Could you hear someone’s voice in a snore? He thought he would be able to if it was Dave… He decided it wasn’t. With this notion to guide him, he also decided that the sound was a little annoying. 

“Can whoever’s snoring please shut the hell up,” he mumbled.

Someone breathed a puff of laughter. So John wasn’t the only one awake. 

“Who’s up?” he whispered.

“Should’ve known you’d be awake early,” the someone whispered back. “You’ve got that whole skin regimen to take care of, don’t you?”

So. Dave was awake.

Had he been thinking about the same things as John?

“Maybe I do, but I don’t make a habit of getting up quite this early.” John rubbed a hand across his eyes and heaved himself into a sitting position. “How come you’re up?”

Dave hummed softly. “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Your fantastic ass, Egbert, what else would I be thinking about? So many personal questions.” John thought he could hear Dave shake his head. “Nah, I’m just thinking about… stuff.”

There was a muffled ‘fwump.’ John peered into the darkness. “What was that?”

“It wath me being fed up with your gay thenaniganth,” Sollux grumbled. “I threw a pillow at you. Fuck you for making me have to do that, my head hath nowhere to retht now.”

“You didn’t have to throw your pillow, dude.” John cringed a little. He hadn’t known anyone else was awake.

“Hey, John, fuck you. You and Dave can flirth your atheth off later for all I care, but now, I jutht want my latht ten minuteth of thleep.”

“Nobody’s flirting!” John protested.

“Wait, nobody’s flirting? I was thoroughly under the impression that we were flirting up a goddamn hormone hurricane here--”

“THUT THE FUCK UP DAVE.”

John’s heart was fluttering at Dave’s words when there came another, louder, ‘fwump’. A pillow sailed through the air to land in his bunk. Sollux cursed.

“Wow, resorting to pillow assault?” John said, offended. He paused for a moment as something occurred to him. “Wait… if you two are awake, who’s snoring? Gamzee or Kankri?”

Someone coughed quietly. “Does this all up and answer your motherfuckin’ inquiry?” Gamzee drawled. 

John snorted with laughter. Now that he thought of it, it made a lot of sense that Kankri would be a snorer. Just another annoying noise blaring from his mouth.

Sollux groaned. “Oh, fuck you guyth, really. The alarm clock’th about to go off. I’m blaming you all if I path out at the end of the day from thleep deprivation.”

“It’s your own fault for using your GameBoy under the covers all night,” Dave muttered. 

“Thut up, that’th nethethary to my health! I can’t help it if my thleep thchedule ith a little differe--”

_Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!_

“UUUGGGHHHH.”

The snoring stopped abruptly. The was a clatter, and the alarm clock’s beeping was cut off. John saw Kankri’s form sit up in his bed.

“Up and at ‘em, boys!”

John hurriedly laid back down and pulled the sleeping bag over his face. Kankri clicked his tongue.

“Time to get up, everyone.” He rose from his bunk and flicked on the lights. Sollux hissed loudly.

“Up! Up! Get dressed, brush your teeth, and we can be off to breakfast. John, please do not hold us up.” Kankri pulled his red sweater over his t-shirt and turned away to change. 

John sat up again and wiggled his way out of his sleeping bag. He would argue with Kankri, but what the counselor said was true, plus John really didn’t want a lecture first thing in the morning. He climbed down the ladder to his top bunk and retrieved a fresh set of clothes from his suitcase.

He glanced up as he was pulling out a t-shirt, and startled to see Dave watching him. The blond boy was still buried in a pile of blankets, but he was sitting up, and eyeing John with a smirk. John rolled his eyes.

“You’d better not be hoping to see me change.”

Dave held a hand to his heart in fake shock. “Me? You would suspect me, such a pure and innocent soul, of gazing upon a hot dude’s physique as he unknowingly dresses? That’s an awfully heavy accusation for me to bear.”

“And yet, a correct one. Cover your eyes.” John waited until Dave begrudgingly held his hands over his eyes to turn away and swap out his sleeping shirt for a new one. 

“Not everyone is as comfortable with their body as you may be,” Kankri reminded Dave. “Many people are very uncomfortable with the idea of being looked at even when they are adequately covered, and gazing upon someone without their permission as they dress is a very--”

Dave sat up and walked out the door.

If he was honest, John was a little disappointed to see that the boy had already changed into his day clothes. He’d been hoping to sneak at least a little peek.

Kankri looked slightly disgruntled as he pulled on a pair of jeans. He followed Dave out the cabin door, and, in a moment, John could hear the quiet sound of voices outdoors. Poor Dave.

He finished getting ready for the day, changing and brushing his teeth to make sure his breath was minty fresh (you never knew what could happen). He also took care of the skin regimen Dave had so kindly taken note of. There was no way this kid was going to get a face full of acne on the last day he would be spending with his crush.

John’s heart sank.

He had almost managed to forget. Today was Friday. That very afternoon he would be leaving Camp Skaia, and Dave along with it. They wouldn’t see each other again for… Who knew how long it might be. It might even be a year, and they would have to wait until the next summer to be reunited. By that time Dave might’ve found someone else to flirt with… 

John had to make a move as soon as possible!

“John, you are on the verge of holding us up once again,” Kankri called from outside. John looked around. As he had been applying his facial cream and worrying about his romantic situation, he hadn’t noticed his cabinmates leaving. Whoops. He packed up his things and headed out to meet them.

“It is good to see that you are becoming more punctual,” Kankri smiled. John forced a smile back, but it turned to a grimace the second Kankri turned away.

The other groups of boys were waiting in the center of the cabinsite. Once John and his cabin joined them, they set off for breakfast. The hottest subject of discussion among them was, obviously, how to get the girls back for their (admittedly epic) prank.

Dave shrugged. “Face it, guys. They got us good on Thursday night. We can’t get revenge for that. They’ve won.”

“No way!” Eridan shook his head stubbornly. “No way am I letting _spider-bitch_ win the title for the millionth time in her life. We have to find a way!”

“I, uh, think I might have to agree with Dave on this one,” Tavros said timidly. “The counselors are, um, all going to agree that the crown’s as good as, uh, theirs.”

“Are we really going to give up so easily?” John was a little disappointed to see his team go down in his first year at camp. More than a little, actually. He wanted to win! “Isn’t there a way we could get the title back?”

Dave started to shake his head, then stopped. “Wait a minute.” He hurried to catch up with Rufioh, who was walking in the front of the group with the other counselors. He stood on his toes to whisper a quick question, and Rufioh nodded thoughtfully. Dave returned with a grin on his face.

“We might stand a chance after all.”

“What do you mean?” John said, excited. 

“Nope, not telling. If we’re going to go about trying to get the title back, our strategy has to be a surprise…”

***

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and sausage, engendering many phallic jokes between the boys, as well as attempts by the counselors to conceal their laughter and look disapproving. They were not successful.

Their first activity was challenge, which they shared with the girls. They trooped out to the pine forest and the challenge course, spritzing bug spray into the air around them as much as they could without gagging on the fumes. The mosquitoes found their way onto any exposed flesh anyhow. By the time ten minutes had passed, John’s legs were covered in red blotches.

“Looks like the bugs all want a piece of you,” Dave commented. “Can’t say I blame them. Those are some hot legs right there.”

John fended him off with a blast of bug spray. 

The girls all looked smug and giggly as they worked through the challenge. They were meant to be guiding a blindfolded Eridan through a maze to find a water balloon in the center, but Vriska would not cease catcalling him and teasing his lack of vision. John did not give her or her friends the satisfaction of looking perturbed by their confidence. After all, Dave had said there was a way to win. The girls had better watch their backs. 

This statement turned literal when Eridan ripped off his blindfold, located the water balloon, and smashed it into the back of an unsuspecting Vriska’s head. 

They were quickly ushered towards a new challenge. 

Their next activity was art, and Mr. Highblood did not hesitate to inform them how beautiful their projects looked. Dave had made a drawing of himself on his turntables, and the wax of John’s candle set had dried nicely since their last art session. They were now ready to take home and burn in glorious blue on the kitchen table. John would have to ask his dad if there was a suitable candle holder.

He almost gave one to Dave, but then he realized that to do so would seem like a farewell gift… 

He stuck them in his pocket instead. Maybe later.

But “later” was coming far too soon. Before John knew it, it was lunch time. The day was going by too fast, he hadn’t even said anything to Dave yet! Well, nothing serious. Plenty of jokes had been exchanged.

“Oh my god, Dave,” John said with a mouthful of sandwich, rolling his eyes. There were only so many internet jokes one could tolerate. But Dave only wiggled his eyebrows.

“I’ll have you saying that.”

John spluttered. “Dave, that’s--” _don’t say hot, don’t say hot_ “gross!”

“And yet you don’t look so opposed.”

John changed the subject as quickly as he could. He put his sandwich down and set his elbows on the table, fixing a challenging stare on Dave. “So. What’s this secret plan you’ve got to beat the girls?”

Dave shushed him. “You’ll find out really soon. Like, about five minutes soon. Can you wait that long?” 

John hesitated. “Mmm… I guess five minutes is okay. But you’d better make good on that!”

Dave winked and gathered up their empty paper plates and plastic cups. John tried and failed to not look at Dave’s ass as he carried them to the trash bin. Dave hadn’t worn anything but skinny jeans all week, and John couldn’t have been more grateful.

“All right if I borrow your boys a while, Kankri?”

John looked down the table. Rufioh was talking to Kankri, his voice lowered as to not be heard. Of course. He must be talking about the pranks! Kankri would never approve, so Rufioh and the other counselors would have to be in charge. 

Kankri pursed his lips. “Well, I had been hoping to do some more team-building exercises… We only have this one day left together, and I thought it would make a good farewell. To really hit home that we will always support one another, you know? We are campmates, and we share a bond that--”

“Yeah, uh, I know... Can I borrow them? Please?”

Kankri stopped. “Well, it is good to see you using proper manners. I… I suppose it would be all right. But have them back by the day’s end! Parents will be arriving at three.”

“Yeah, yeah. I, uh, I think I know that after years of working here. Don’t worry, I’ll have ‘em all back.” Rufioh pushed his chair out and cleared his throat. “Can I have all my guys come with me?”

The boys looked up curiously, but did as they were told, throwing out any remaining trash and gathering around the counselor. 

“Let’s not talk here,” Rufioh whispered. “We can, uh, head back to the cabinsite... okay?” No one objected, so he led them outside.

“Okay, I lied!” He announced. Now that they were out of earshot of the girls, he was free to raise his voice. “Well, it was, uh, a lie of omission… we aren’t going back to _our_ cabinsite. We’re going to the girls’. Fruity Rumpus.”

“Why?” John said curiously.

Rufioh waved a hand for the campers to follow, and they began to walk along the lakeshore to Fruity Rumpus Partytown. The other male counselors brought up the rear. “We have a title to win, don’t we?”

“Can you be more thpethific?” said Sollux. 

“Well…” Rufioh adopted the story-telling voice that was familiar to all campers with a half-decent counselor. “This prank war began long ago. Uh… Like, four years ago, I think? You were all young then. But when it did, there was actually, uh, a set of rules that both sides agreed to.”

“Wait, really? I never knew there were rules. I just thought we pranked the shit out of each other until one cried for mercy,” Karkat said, perplexed. 

“That’s, uh, the basic premise, yeah. But there were some rules. For example, if a cabin didn’t want to participate, they didn’t have to, and no cabin not participating should be pranked. That’s why Meulin’s cabin never gets involved… And there was also the rule of no causing lasting bodily harm.” Rufioh grimaced. “We’ve… had some issues with that one in previous years.”

“Did campers get hurt?” John asked.

Rufioh shook his head. “Not campers. Counselors… But anyway! The rule we’ll be bringing into play is the challenge rule. If one cabin seems to have won by Thursday night, usually, they win. But if the competition has been relatively even previously to that… The losing side can challenge the winners to an epic battle. It’s a double-or-nothing. If the losers win the battle, they win all, and get the Prank Crown as well as, uh, epic bragging rights. If they lose again, they… They just kind of look like losers, I guess.”

“Nobody’s ever said anything about a Prank Crown!” John’s mouth fell open. “What the heck is that? It sounds cool!”

“It’s just the thing that makes winning official. Otherwise, anybody could say they won, y’know?” Dave answered. “I think it might be in Kurloz’s cabin right now, since we won last year. We’ve just got to make sure it stays there.”

“Uhh, I hate to interrupt, because I know that some people, are not as able as I am to be aware of certain camp traditions,” Tavros stammered. “But there is one thing I’m not aware of, and it’s this battle thing, what is this battle thing?”

Rufioh stopped walking. The walk to Fruity Rumpus was much shorter than that to the boys’ cabins, John noted with envy. And it was so… pretty! The cabinsite before them held three brightly-painted cabins that contrasted starkly with the plain wooden ones of the The Incipisphere and The Medium. Stupid girls and their stupidly cool cabins.

“It is…” Rufioh walked to the fire pit between the three cabins and sat down on one of the log benches. “A rap battle,” he finished. 

John glanced over at Dave to see a grin spreading wider and wider across his face. “John. You have no _fucking_ idea. How fresh my raps are. We are going to completely fucking decimate the girls. Like, take the atom bomb, then turn the explosion noise into a beat and lay down some sicknasty rhymes to destroy--”

“What the FUCK are you doing in our cabinsite?” 

Apparently they had not checked well enough to make sure they were not followed. The girls had arrived, and they were headed by an extremely pissed-off looking Meenah.

“Hey, sis, it’s all cool,” Rufioh said feebly. He held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. “We’re just here to, uh, invoke one of the rules of old, y’know? Particularly the challenge rule…”

Meenah rolled her eyes. “Oh. That. Are you seriously tryin’ to start a rap battle up in here?”

The girls looked confused, but did not interrupt their leader as she continued. “Because if so, we wholeheartedly accept, and you’re about to get fuckin’ smashed.”

Rufioh smiled. “Well, uh, cool! Now, I seem to have forgotten the exact procedure…”

“I remember!” Mituna blurted. The usually sniggering counselor now looked nothing short of gleeful. “Each side picks three! Then they get pitted against each other in a _fucking delirious slam skirmish!_ ”

Dave immediately raised a hand. “Me, I’m number one. Rap warrior number one right here.”

“I’ll get that printed on a t-shirt,” John muttered. Dave elbowed him.

“Shut it, Egbert, or I’ll nominate you next.”

John shut his mouth. To put it elegantly, he could not rap for shit, and to try would be to embarrass his team.

Rufioh nodded.”Okay, who else wants a go?”

“I’ll take a motherfuckin’ shot at it,” Gamzee said lazily. “Don’t see why I shouldn’t all up and bring us a motherfuckin’ victory in verse.”

“And me!” Tavros squeaked. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be the third! I can, uhh, do it!”

The boys and girls had inadvertently formed two opposing lines. Across the divide, Vriska laughed derisively.

“What, toreasnore trying to bring his team glory? Tavros, honey, if they let you compete, it means they _want_ to lose.”

“Hey, now,” Rufioh said mildly. “Let’s chill out a little. Tavros, you can go ahead and be our third. What about you girls? Who do you choose?”

Tavros already looked like he was regretting his decision. 

The girls formed a huddle and whispered back and forth. Finally, three girls emerged from the circle. Vriska, Roxy, and Rose. Huh. John hadn’t thought of Rose as the rapping type… 

Each team of three stepped towards each other.

“The teams have chosen their delegates! Girls go first, and the rounds will alternate by gender. Girl, boy, girl, you get the picture? Remember, there is no order, so any rapper can step up to the plate when it is their team’s turn! They may also surrender if they wish! All right....” Meenah cleared her throat. “Three… Two… One… KICK IT!”

***

When Rose volunteered to rap, Kanaya had just about died. 

Rose Lalonde? A beauty, yes, an intellectual, certainly, but a rapper? Kanaya couldn’t see it.

But she sure as hell wanted to.

“I dabble in poetry,” Rose had shrugged. “How hard can it be?” 

“Against Tavros, like taking candy from a baby,” Vriska had snorted in reply. “I would tell you to do well or else face my wrath, but honestly, you won’t need to do well with him as an opponent. You could suck ass and still win.”

“Just have fun.” Roxy had slung her arms around the necks of her teammates. “Let’s do some raps! Heck yeeeah!”

And Meenah had begun the battle. “Three… Two… One! KICK IT!”

Roxy stepped up to the plate first. “Somebody gimme a beat!” On the other side, Dave complied. He was surprisingly good at beatboxing.

”Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam!

I’m gonna take you down, welcome to the exam!

You’re gettin’ fuckin’ schooled by Ro-Lal, better take some notes,

Or you’ll be the receiver of the winner’s wicked female gloats!

You’ve got no aptitude, no facts, it’s rude, but I’m not scared to tell the truth,

Your attempted coup is no breakthrough when you realize we’ve got the drop on you!

I haven’t even heard your rhymes just yet, and I know that’s as good as they’ll ever get

(That was a joke, I’m saying the sound of silence is better than you l-m-a-o

I’m explaining it because I’m sure you didn’t get my sick flow)

It’s crazy to think that you could dare to challenge Partytown

With a chest thrown out, a hipster prick, a stutterer and a clown!

You’re crazy if you think you’ll take from us our crown,

We’ll break you till you have a mental breakdown, a shakedown,

Don’t you know that we’re the effin queens now, you see, now?

We’re the best around!

We’re world renowned!

Whoever’s banking on your victory had better be ready for a _letdown!_

OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Dave scoffed. “Now, that’s just offensive… Somebody get the beat.” Surprisingly, Latula was the one to pick up his slack. Even more surprisingly, she was better than him. The beat she laid down was more complex, and Dave nodded in appreciation before he began with enthusiasm.

”Slide into the station, no hesitation,

Now listen one and all to this declaration.

Do I have your eyes and ears? Do you hear that silence?

Ears across the nation listening to this conversation between a bro,

And the queens who are really the tyrants. 

Drop the act, drop the shyness, you know just who you are

And it’ll be world’s end before I call you ‘your highness’.

Now I’ve got your attention, I’ll drop rhymes beyond comprehension,

You’re always running and chasing after something irreplaceable,

Thinking you can rap, as if you’re even capable

Of stringing two words together into a rhyme,

It’s laughable you’ve kept the crown, it’s almost a crime,

As for your defeat it’s about goddamn time

Someone served you up a platter of ‘kiss my ass’

Give you a little something to make you blink fast

Cause now you’re pretty wide-eyed, staring in the face

Of someone who knows both the time and the place

To show you how it’s done, have some fun, show you some tricks!

But don’t get too upset when your asses get whipped.”

The boys crowded around Dave. “OH SHIT!” John yelled. Vriska smirked. “Don’t get so cocky. You haven’t won yet.” 

”The battle’s begun, quit preparing us

For the rhymes you claim are fabulous,

When really you can’t compare with us,

Just admit it, you know you’re scared of us!

You think you’ve got the upper hand, but you’re no bother,

Cause after all, I’m the one who’s still got a father!

Aw, hit a sore spot? Tavros, you’re shaking.

But then again, with you, that’s hardly heartbreaking.

You’re pathetic, I can’t bring myself to care

When you’re _always_ the one who comes out worse for wear.

Does this round even count? Can you even compete?

When you’re down for the count and your failure’s complete?

Your aspirations are as high as your dumbfuck clown friend

But you know you’ll never achieve anything in the end,

Just give up now! You know you’re not up to par!

I’ll let you down easy, your end’s not that far.

You hardly deserve for me to be kind

When you’re driving out of my goddamn mind!

Maybe I won’t be… Kindness is _your_ thing.

Unlike winning! You’re too incredibly boring.

Who’d want to be friends with a kid who can’t, uhh, t-t-talk?

And his rhymes are as shitty as his lame-ass fauxhawk.”

Tavros trembled under the force of Vriska’s smirk. “I, uhh, don’t think we’re supposed to aim our raps at a specific person, and I think that what you are doing with that, is not very nice, but, um, I guess you have made it my turn now?”

He hesitantly stepped forward and looked to Rufioh for reassurance. The counselor nodded. 

Kanaya didn’t know if “encouraging” was an adjective that could be applied to beatboxing, but if it was, that was how Latula did it.

”Uh, first off, let me say, I think that you are a bitch,

And you aren’t very nice at all, even though you, uh, think you’re the shit,

Your confidence is fake, it’s even faker than, uh, mine, 

And I think that says something about the quality of your life,

You must be a pretty sad person if you think bullying makes you cool,

I would wonder if something was, uhh, wrong in your home, if I was a counselor at a school,

But I’m not, I’m just a kid, starting some, uh, sick campfires

And I think your situation is also getting pretty dire,

All your canoes sunk,

And your cabin stunk, uh, like dead fish

Or was that just between your legs??

Ohhh! That was, a pretty sick one, I think, uh,

You should go get some ice for that and rest for a while, uhh, 

Are you hypnotized? 

No, um, don’t apologize

I know I’m, uh, the ladies kryptonite,

I’m your only weakness, or should I say, one of many

I’ll leave you so bankrupt, you, uh, beg for a penny

Sinking into a great depression, uh, I still think,

That you are a rude bitch! Pardon the, uh, expression,

Now let me ease the tension,

If you want some redemption,

In the form of a title,

That you won’t, uh, be keeping,

Because it just got stolen!”

“That’s motherfuckin’ _right!_ ” Gamzee roared. He squeezed Tavros around the middle and lifted him into the air. “Man, I never knew you got such motherfuckin’ nasty sass up in you!”

Tavros looked pleased with himself, and he allowed Gamzee to parade him around the edge of the group before being set on the ground. 

“So, uh, what’s your comeback?” He attempted a smirk, but it just ended up looking like a normal smile. 

“I think I possess the capabilities to retaliate,” Rose said smoothly. “Now, if you’d please… Latula, increase the intensity of your beats. What’s the expression? Ah, yes. ‘Drop it.’”

”In a camp’s nostalgic setting, we come upon the getting,

Of a sentence. I charge your counselors with aiding and abetting.

They have labored under the delusion that they will serve out just comeuppance,

They’ve forgotten that, to keep a crown, is to a queen incumbent. 

You masquerade as men as to appear valiant and bold,

But your downfall is the virtues that, as males, you do not hold.

A lady’s charm is made of wit, of snark and cool prestige

This sarcasm we use to either raze or to appease. 

Your wits, as males, are rather slow, and lethargic in nature

To call you kings of camp would be ill-suited nomenclature.

In your hearts I see egos that are inflated right to bursting

The crown is the artifact for which you all are thirsting. 

Speaking of thirst, when last did you speak

With the girlfriends who’ll dump you by the end of this week?

They seemed thirsty, but not in the dehydrated sense of the word,

When they stopped by my cabin to see if the rumors they’d heard

Of a beautiful queen who could ease their plight,

As long as they stayed the rest of the night,

Were as true as the stupidity of their male companions...

And I, indeed, confirmed the validity of their hearsay.

Are you not catching my drift? 

You’re as gone as yesterday.

Fucking your girlfriends aside, I seem to suspect

There are boyfriends as well, if I am correct. 

But anyway, your rhyme schemes are simple, your tactics, a bore,

You can do no better than ‘your mother’s a whore,’

I’m dying for rhymes to relieve my fatigue

Of playing with players who are below my league.

Give me a new rhyme scheme! A-A-B-B is over.

I need new letters to add to this mix.

I think it’s almost time for someone to take over,

I’m tired of speaking towards these arrogant dicks.

So, show me your stuff. Prove that you’re worthy. 

To have gazed at my face, to have seen me and heard me.

Change up the rhyme scheme from A-B-A-B,

And maybe we’ll get a break from your idiocy.”

Kanaya thought having a bomb dropped on her head would leave her less shell-shocked.

True, Rose’s speech was more poetry than slam, but with the speed at which the words tumbled out and the confident expression that curved the girl’s lips into a smile, it would be a crime to deny it the title of rap.

Rose Lalonde. Beauty, intellectual, rapper. Who would have thought?

The boys looked expectantly to Gamzee, and he ran a hand through his puffy mass of hair.

“Man, I ain’t even know half the motherfuckin’ words she just talked. I don’t think I can compete with that.”

“I doubt anyone could!” Latula grinned. “Are you surrendering?”

“He can’t do that!” Eridan protested. “It’s not his place!”

“Yeah, I think I motherfuckin’ am,” Gamzee replied, ignoring Eridan’s glare. 

Cronus put his hand on Eridan’s shoulder. “It’s his decision, he was the nominee. And we can always win next year.” Eridan shrugged him off angrily.

“Well, embarrassing losses aside...” Rufioh grimaced, but it quickly morphed into a smile. “I think that was the best rap battle I’ve ever seen.” Meenah nodded.

“I have to agree. So much, that, in fact…” She hesitated, and looked to Latula.

They shared a very long look.

“I think it’s come out a tie.”

“What?” Vriska was outraged. “You can’t do that! We’ve _never_ done that!”

“There’s a first time for everything. So, congratulations to both teams! You did a fan-fuckin-tastic job!”

Vriska began to protest further, so Kanaya tuned her out, edging closer to Rose. “I did not know you could rap like that,” she murmured.

“You aren’t the only one,” Rose murmured back. “I took myself by surprise.”

Rose and Kanaya were not the only ones who had begun to quietly converse as the counselors were occupied with Vriska and Eridan. They were refusing to take a tie as an answer, and the campers talked among themselves while the two argued with the counselors. It was surprising to see Eridan agreeing with Vriska... but less so to see them united on the front of hate.

John and Dave, Kanaya noticed, had slunk away from the group and around behind Meenah’s cabin. She grinned. What on earth could they ever be up to. She had _no_ idea.

Kanaya beckoned to Rose. Walking around the side of Latula’s cabin, she followed John’s lead. There were only a few hours of camp left. It would be a shame if she only got to kiss Rose the one time. 

She pulled Rose into her arms, and this time, without the fear of Vriska or Meenah emerging and seeing them, they kissed without interruption. Kanaya leaned into Rose, relishing in the feeling of the girl’s arms wrapped around her waist as their lips collided. She didn’t ever want it to end.

And she had to make sure it wouldn’t.

Kanaya leaned back gently, then rested her forehead against Rose’s. “I am sorry to kill the mood,” she whispered. “But I need to ask you something. Are we girlfriends now?”

Rose smiled. “If you want to be, then, of course.”

Kanaya was relieved. “All right. That is good. I have one more question… Do you intend to stay girlfriends past the ending of this camp session? I met you for the first time on Sunday night, so I assume you do not live in the area, or at least not close enough to go to school with me. Is that going to be a problem?”

“No. We’ll figure something out.” Rose pressed a kiss to Kanaya’s cheek. “I like what we have begun to have, and I do not wish to see it lost over something as trivial as distance.”

Kanaya dropped her hand from Rose’s waist to lace their fingers together. “I agree… Shall we head back to the group?”

“Oh, I don’t see why we can’t wait a bit.” Rose smirked and leaned in…

“Fuck, wrong way, wrong way--”

Rose stared at someone over Kanaya’s shoulder. Kanaya turned around to see John and Dave, grinning nervously as they backed away.

“Didn’t realize this spot was taken,” John stammered. “We’ll just go somewhere else, uh…”

“I take it you’ve kissed by this point, and are searching for a safer location in which to continue?” Rose said, amused. “Well. I’m glad that the tension between the two of you has worked itself out.”

Both John and Dave blushed, but neither denied her statement.

Each pair took refuge behind a different cabin, and they were given blissful time to themselves, to spend how they wished. Namely, they spent it kissing. It was wonderful. 

But three o’clock came too soon, and it was time to reconvene. Rose, Kanaya, John, and Dave headed back to the center of the cabinsite where the other campers lounged. The boys were quickly herded away and towards the other side of the lake, where they could be picked up at their own cabinsite by their parents. Kanaya inclined her head to John as he started off, and he gave her a goofy smile in return. 

Leaving him was simple compared to leaving Rose. 

The same white car Rose had arrived in pulled up to take her away, and Kanaya felt her heart sink. This was it. The two exchanged contact information, and Kanaya prayed with all her might that this would not be the type of summer fling that would fade after two days of texting.

She couldn’t even kiss Rose goodbye. Not with her parents and all the counselors watching.

And so the two were split into their two cars, and Kanaya watched as the white minivan disappeared down the road.

It was barely ten minutes before Rose texted. Kanaya smiled as she opened the message.

TT: I’ve just found out something very interesting from my mother.

TT: You wouldn’t happen to live near the town of Prospit, would you?

GA: Yes Actually I Live There

GA: Why

TT: I’m moving there.

GA: Wait

GA: Really??

GA: Oh My Gosh That Is Wonderful

TT: Isn’t it just. Would you happen to be enrolled in a certain Prospit Academy of Dreamers, then?

GA: Yes!

TT: Well, as of today, so am I. I’ll be moving in August and beginning school the next month.

GA: Oh My Gosh Oh My Gosh

GA: We Are Going To Go To School Together

TT: Yes, we are. I’m very excited.

TT: I don’t suppose there are any demonic teachers or students I should be warned of?

GA: You Have Met A Good Portion Of The Student Body Already

GA: And The Teachers Are All Fairly Nice, If A Bit Strict

TT: I’m glad. But I would surely be able to face any hellish faculty with you by my side.

GA: You Are Very Sweet Rose

GA: I Am Greatly Looking Forward To Spending More Time With You

TT: And I you.

TT: My mother is asking me how my first week of summer camp went. I don’t think I’ll tell her the entire truth. Perhaps once she’s met you.

TT: For now… 

TT: I think the descriptor ‘best summer of my life’ will do quite nicely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels weird that so much time passed over the course of this fanfiction. Me and my co-author met irl for the first time (at the very camp this fic was based on), a bunch of months happened, and homestuck ended. Dang.
> 
> Well, it's certainly been a fun ride! Thank you for reading!


End file.
